IMC News

WVU IMC Program Celebrates May 2013 Commencement

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:06:00 EST

Forty May and August 2013 IMC graduates traveled to Morgantown, WV for the WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism’s Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 18. Graduates heard from commencement speaker Richard Gringras, Senior Director of News and Social Products at Google, and they were hooded by IMC Program Director, Chad Mezera.

Commencement photos will be posted soon.
Click here to find a Storify piece documenting Saturday’s events.
You can find video of the Commencement ceremony here. Richard Gringras’ address begins at 15:55.

Congratulations to all our IMC program graduates across the United States and around the world!

After the ceremony, several IMC graduates joined the administrative team for a picnic in Morgantown.

Facebook Marketing Executive to Deliver Keynote Address at INTEGRATE Conference

Mon, 06 May 2013 11:41:00 EST

A top-level marketing executive from the world’s most popular social networking platform is coming to West Virginia University. The IMC graduate program will host Jane Schachtel, global head of technology and vertical marketing at Facebook, during its INTEGRATE 2013 conference May 31-June 1.

Schachtel, a School of Journalism alumna, will address trends in the global marketing industry, on Saturday, June 1, during the conference’s keynote dinner at Milan Puskar Stadium’s Touchdown Terrace. As strategic communications professionals work to keep up with the constantly evolving digital landscape, Schachtel will break down the trends and explain how professionals can use technology marketing to promote their brand.

Schachtel joined Facebook most recently from Microsoft where she was director of social media for Bing and MSN. Prior to Microsoft, she was a director of marketing at Intuit. In addition, Schachtel started her own consulting firm where she helped start-up and enterprise clients with product positioning, corporate branding, digital marketing and social media strategies.

“We’re excited to bring in a high-level executive engaged with such a prominent online brand to meet with our students, faculty and conference attendees,” said Chad Mezera, director of online programs for the School of Journalism. “Jane’s keynote address will be an incredible opportunity to hear from a technology and digital marketing pioneer.”

Schachtel’s address will come at the end of the IMC graduate program’s third annual integrated marketing communications conference, a two-day event on WVU’s downtown campus.
Additional featured speakers and presenters at this year’s conference include:
• Joseph Cohen, Public Relations Society of America chair-elect and senior vice president at MWW;
• Scott Cuppari, senior marketing manager for Coca-Cola Freestyle and WVU IMC alumnus;
• Jason Falls, digital strategist and co-author of No Bull** Social Media and The Rebel’s Guide To Email Marketing;
• Mike Maleski, vice president of sales and marketing at the Northeast Ohio Media Group; and
• Expert WVU IMC faculty members from across the United States.

During the conference, attendees can participate in breakout sessions including Social Media Ethics, Digital Marketing Success, Creating Compelling Visuals and Media Integration. Participants will also have the opportunity to attend a professional networking reception on Friday evening.

As part of this year’s INTEGRATE conference, the program will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Starting in 2003 with 17 students, the WVU IMC program now has 426 students enrolled with almost 500 graduates across the world.

“We couldn’t be prouder of the lineup for this year’s INTEGRATE conference,” Mezera said. “The conference grows each and every year, offering take-away skills for marketing communications professionals, and we look forward to celebrating 10 years of innovation and growth at this cornerstone event.”

The conference and keynote dinner are open to registered conference attendees only. Details on how to register and more information about the INTEGRATE 2013 conference are available at http://imc.wvu.edu/integrate.

If you are a current IMC student, a graduate of the program or are thinking about enrolling in the WVU IMC program, contact Nicole Beason at nicole.beason@mail.wvu.edu for conference discount codes.

IMC Program Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:30:00 EST

The WVU IMC program is very proud to be celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2013.

The full 39-credit hour master’s degree program officially launched in the fall of 2003 with 17 students in its first class. Just three years later, in 2006, the program exceeded 100 students. Today, the IMC program has 426 students enrolled from 41 states and five foreign countries, as well as almost 500 graduates representing 46 states and countries on five of the seven continents.

Read more about our 10th anniversary here: http://imc.wvu.edu/community/10th-anniversary.

Read our press release on WVU Today: http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2013/03/14/wvu-s-online-imc-graduate-program-celebrates-10-years-of-innovation-growth.

Thank you to all current students and graduates, current and emeritus faculty, and all program friends for making the program what it is today.

IMC Graduates Present Capstone Projects in NYC

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 08:49:00 EST

Three fall 2012 IMC 636 students presented their final capstone projects to a group of high-level marketing executives in New York City on Monday, February 4. Executives from agencies including Hall & Partners, Siegel+Gale, and Maslansky + Partners provided feedback on the students’ work, along with School of Journalism visiting committee members Tom Harrison, chairman of Omnicom’s Diversified Agency Services, and Scott Widmeyer, CEO of Widmeyer Communications. Ray Gillette, former president of DDB Chicago and IMC 636 course instructor, introduced the students and their work.

The fall capstone took on the WVU School of Journalism as their client, and students created comprehensive integrated marketing campaigns for the School. Congratulations to Jenn Colodney, Dain McQuarrie and Sarah Peacock for their well-received presentations and to all December WVU IMC graduates who completed impressive IMC 636 projects.

WVU IMC Spring 2013 New Student Profile

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:48:21 EST

The IMC program welcomed 67 new students in the Spring 2013 term. The average GPA of the Spring admits is 3.2 and they average 8.3 years of professional experience. New IMC students are logging on from 23 different US states and the United Arab Emirates. The Early Spring IMC term runs Jan. 14 – March 17 and the Late Spring term runs March 18 – May 19. To our 67 new students: welcome to the School of Journalism and Mountaineer family!

IMC Program Offers Public Affairs Elective, Welcomes New Faculty

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:02:00 EST

Starting in the Early Spring term, the WVU IMC program will offer a new elective – IMC 693S – Public Affairs. Among other things, students will learn to: understand federal, state and local governments and their impact on constituencies; apply the use of social media and other online tools to promote advocacy; and, define what constitutes a crisis and demonstrate ways public agencies manage reputation. Students will hear from several guest speakers during the course, including a former member of Congress, a senior reporter and columnist at Politico, the senior VP at the Cellular Telephone Industry Association (CTIA) and the VP for interactive strategy at DDC Advocacy. The Public Affairs course description can be found at: http://imc.wvu.edu/curriculum/course_descriptions/imc-693s.

Two new faculty members – Mike Fulton and Kathy Keltner-Previs – will teach the new elective and bring a wealth of communications experience to our expert faculty.

Please join us in welcoming them to the program!

Mike Fulton of Kensington, MD, is president of The Arnold Agency’s Washington office and has more than 30 years of public affairs experience. Before joining The Arnold Agency, Fulton spent more than 22 years at GolinHarris, utilizing Congressional and federal agency meetings, grassroots campaigns, creative events, videos, survey research and media relations to enhance his lobbying activities and achieve tremendous government relations results for his clients. Prior to joining GolinHarris, Mike worked for two Members of the U.S. House of Representatives (Chairman Alan B. Mollohan and the late Rep. Robert H. Mollohan, both of WV) as associate counsel to the House Appropriations Committee, legislative assistant, press secretary and special projects assistant.

IMC Online Professional Development Courses Offered Again this Spring

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:31:00 EST

The WVU IMC graduate program is happy to announce that we will offer our 15-week online professional development series in Social Media and Marketing again this spring. The series’ three five-week courses will be offered entirely-online and run Jan. 14 through April 28.

Here is what one fall series participant had to say about their experience in the “Emerging Trends in Digital Marketing Communications” course:

“I graduated from the IMC program three years ago. I took this series as a way to “update” my Master’s so to speak. This class was fun and very enjoyable and I found that it gave me exactly what I was looking for. It brought up things that had changed and the way things were evolving in emerging media trends.”

More information on the spring courses can be found below.

Courses

Emerging Trends in Digital Marketing Communications
January 14 – February 17, 2013
Course provides an overview of digital media and discusses the evolution of traditional media to digital media. Information on the unique marketing abilities of various media platforms is included. The course is taught by Dr. Larry Stultz.

The Importance of Web Analytics and Search Engine Marketing
February 18 – March 24, 2013
This course focuses on ways to measure traffic, engagement and impact of online information. Search engine optimization (SEO) and social media optimization (SMO) strategies are also discussed. The course is taught by Matt Wells.

Social Media Tools and Techniques
March 25 – April 28, 2013
Course explores monitoring and engaging consumers in social media. You will examine the tools, techniques and strategies used for effective social media campaigns. The course is taught by Dr. Dawn Edmiston.

Price

You may take the whole series for $1,250, or individual courses for $500 each.

Registration

Register for one or more of the Social Media and Marketing series courses by going to: http://continuinged.wvu.edu/courses/course.php?cid=225. If you have additional questions before registering, please contact IMC Advising Director, Shelly Stump, at 304-293-8683 or shelly.stump@mail.wvu.edu.

Elliott Nix Joins IMC Program Faculty

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:51:00 EST

Nix will join the IMC program faculty in Late Fall 2012 and teach IMC 629 – Mobile Marketing.

A resident of Glen Ridge, NJ, Nix is currently Head of Media Solutions-Tech for Google, where he focuses on client challenges and helps develop marketing strategies that span platforms (mobile, video, display, search & social). He also served as Google’s Head of Mobile Sales & Strategy-North America, where he helped grow Google Mobile into a billion dollar business – now the largest mobile search, display and video network in the world.

With over 10 years in media and advertising, spent at NBC, OMD and Google, Nix has worked with Blue Chip clients like Bank of America and PlayStation on everything from TV buying to V.O.D. Nix helped start OMD’s Emerging Technology: Mobile Team, and is ecstatic to leverage his past experiences in his current role.

His faculty bio page can be viewed here: http://imc.wvu.edu/about/faculty/elliott-nix.

IMC Program Welcomes Six New Faculty Members for Late Fall Term

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:44:00 EST

The WVU IMC program is proud to welcome six new faculty members who will begin teaching in the Late Fall term. The new faculty members offer a wealth of industry knowledge and exciting perspectives – and show the program’s commitment to remaining on the cutting-edge of the marketing communications industry.

Please welcome them to the program!

Joe Barnes of Seattle, WA, is currently an adjunct instructor at the University of Washington, Seattle University, City University of Seattle and the WVU IMC program, and CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Digital3000.net, a social and digital media consulting firm based in Seattle. His background includes over 20 years of senior level journalism leadership experience as well as having consulted over 75 businesses and nonprofits nationwide. He has been quoted in two books and is a board member of Marketing Communications Executives International and the Northwest Science Writers Association. Under his leadership in journalism KOMO-TV in Seattle received the coveted Edward R. Murrow award for outstanding journalism. Barnes will teach IMC 619: Emerging Media & the Market.

Aaron Hawley Joins IMC Administrative Team

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 08:59:00 EST

The School of Journalism has hired Aaron Hawley, MSJ, as its undergraduate online programs coordinator. Hawley is responsible for overseeing the recruitment and management of student enrollments in the School’s undergraduate minors, including advertising, health promotion, public relations and sports communication. Hawley leads student recruitment efforts, manages all content for undergraduate courses and responds to in-course technology problems.

Before joining the IMC team, Hawley was an account executive at Bowers Broadcasting in Morgantown, W.Va. There, he managed and recruited advertising clients, conducted market research, implemented advertising campaigns and provided customer service.

“I’m incredibly excited to rejoin the School of Journalism team and work with the online undergraduate programs,” said Hawley. “The WVU School of Journalism has already established itself as a national leader in online education and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of their continued success.”

Hawley has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in journalism from WVU’s P.I. Reed School of Journalism.

View Hawley’s IMC program bio page at: http://imc.wvu.edu/about/administrative_team/aaron-hawley.