COMMUNICATION STRATEGIC BUILDING A STRONGER INDUSTRY

BY AMANDA FRETHEIM GATES

THE HUBBARD SCHOOL’S PROFESSIONAL MASTER’S IN STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION launched in Fall 2005. The new program was fulfilling a need, in both the School and in the local industry. It was designed for the working professional—someone in charge of multipronged campaigns in an ever-changing world of diverse audiences. The program was built to give those professionals both theoretical and practical knowledge and help them maintain (and embrace) flexibility in their working lives.

Howard Liszt, a Senior Fellow at the time of the program’s launch, played a major role in bringing it to life. He said at the time, “This program is very different from what is out there and available to communications professionals. It is geared toward people who really want to hypercharge their careers. Students in this program will be well prepared to strategically and effectively implement communication strategies across multiple media and markets.”

What Liszt said, and what everyone in the School believed, was definitely true in 2005. And it remains true— maybe even more so—today.

“At almost 19 years strong, our program is one of the most established master’s programs in strategic communication in the country,” said Scott Meyer, interim administrative director.

The program has always had a winning structure: two years, two nights a week, two courses per semester. Doable and practical for most full-time employees at any stage of their career. One cohort of around 20 students travels through the program together, making for great connections and camaraderie. In fact, the cohort model is something alums point back to over and over again as to why the program is successful in their eyes.

“It’s amazing how the cohorts blend and how supportive they are of each other,” Meyer said. Even the age gaps among students can prove to be a positive. “No matter how seasoned a student might be in their career, they can still learn from younger students about things like TikTok or SEO,” he said.

The program was born from the community connections the School had with local agencies and nonprofits—and those partnerships have only gotten stronger over time. Not only do industry leaders hire its graduates, many local professionals offer to teach in, and even lead, the program, including Meyer, John Eighmey Gordon Leighton and Steve Wehrenberg.

This year, the program added its first-ever advisory board, composed of alums and professionals from the industry. The board members not only provide guidance for the program overall, they help students with networking, too.

The board, along with Meyer and new academic director Erich Sommerfeldt, created a marketing roadmap to bring the program to the next level. The roadmap lays out four goals: building the program’s brand, so more people know how well-established it is; deft recruiting, through info sessions and bimonthly meet ups with faculty; boosting student success, with networking opportunities like forums, panel discussions and career events; and celebrating alumni, by telling their success stories and bringing them on as ambassadors for the program.

“The program has helped me look at my projects more strategically. I find myself taking a step back to look at the bigger picture and seeing how what I’m doing ladders up to the larger strategy and the organization’s overall goals as opposed to focusing so much on the tactical work,” said Kate Metzger (M.A.’22).

The program has always offered the right mix of academia and professional training, ensuring students graduate with a well-rounded experience. “Some of the best feedback we get is about our blend of academic and professional faculty,” Meyer said. And even during a pandemic, the program proved versatile, moving online quickly and effectively. Online teaching worked so well that some courses are still taught in a hybrid format. Murphy Hall’s updated conference center, research suite and lower-level make hybrid teaching that much easier.

WHO ARE OUR GRADS?

The Professional Master’s program boasts more than 300 alumni who work all over the country in many different industries.

Where Alums Work 3M

Medtronic Google Ecolab Mastercard

Weber Shandwick Target

General Mills

Mayo Clinic

Ameriprise Financial

United Healthcare

Non-profit organizations

Common Job Titles

Social Media Manager

Digital Strategist

Communications Director

Communications Specialist

Consumer Insights Manager

Communications Research Analyst

Account Executive

Content Strategist

Marketing Specialist

Marketing Director

Public Relations Specialist

Advertising and Promotions Manager

Upcoming Info Sessions

Interested in the program? Join a virtual info session for more details.

March 15

April 19

May 17

June 14

12-1 p.m. Go to z.umn.edu/MA-StratComm to register.

Questions? Contact Scott Meyer (sdm@umn.edu) or Kassie Snyder (snyderk@umn.edu)

STUDY: REDUCING YOUTH INTEREST IN VAPING

A GROUP OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA RESEARCHERS, led by Associate Professor Sherri Jean Katz and including Director Elisia Cohen, are studying whether removing the flavor image and color from vape packaging would make it less appealing to young people. In the study, “Vaping flavors and flavor representation: A test of youth risk perceptions, novelty perceptions, and susceptibility,” the group asked 176 middle-schoolers questions about the topic. The study made several observations, including that the participants who viewed the fruit-flavored vaping product with flavor color and flavor image reported higher novelty perceptions and susceptibility than those who viewed the fruit-flavored vaping product with no flavor color and no flavor image. “It is essential to develop regulatory and public health strategies that reduce youth interest in vaping. This study suggests that we can reduce youth interest in these products by changing the packaging,” Katz said.