Graduating Master’s Student Finds UC Fit Her Plans
Aparna Madhavan came to UC for its top-ranked graduate program in architecture. She leaves three years later with two masters and two juniors — twins.
By: Wendy Beckman
December 12, 2008 – Aparna Madhavan moved to Cincinnati in 2005 when she was accepted into DAAP’s top-ranked architecture graduate program. At that point she was working full-time and pursued the MS architecture degree part-time. She also became the mother of twin boys along the way. When she receives her MS in Architecture at the Autumn All-University Commencement, it will be the second degree awarded to her by the University of Cincinnati in 2008: She just received an MS in Marketing in June. advertising and branding."
"With my venture into marketing, I had planned on integrating design and business with a focus in marketing," she says. She last worked for FRCH design worldwide in Cincinnati, before deciding to branch into marketing. She credits FRCH's successful integration of design and marketing as an inspiration.
Prior to this she had lived and worked in Austin, Texas, after receiving an undergraduate degree in architecture from Bangalore University in India. An established architect, she had practiced in Austin and Cincinnati for a total of five and a half years.
"My focus in design has been on commercial architecture and branded interior design," she explains. "My journey in architecture started over a decade ago in India due to the creative potential that it offered me in design. Over the years my context in life changed. I moved to this country, had a family and as I pursued my part-time degree in architecture, I recognized the need for a little more."
One of the reasons that Aparna found the UC College of Business marketing program fascinating was due to what she calls "the creative potential that it seemed to offer in the context of this country and in a corporate framework."
"I was very open to the nature of projects that I worked on during the course of the program — after all, that was the reason I was in school," she says. "I had had a good bit of real-world experience."
A culmination of Aparna’s marketing degree experiences are in the IPSOS moderator position that she will be assuming in January after graduation.
"I will be using skills that I gained during my marketing capstone at P&G Iams, and courses that the marketing program offered in qualitative research," Aparna says. "I got to know about the company during an international seminar in Paris, France, where they are headquartered. We visited IPSOS, Paris as one of our company site visits. I was interested in the scope of work that IPSOS did and was very impressed by the company."
Aparna was also very impressed with the University of Cincinnati.
"As a full-time student of the College of Business, I can attest to the resourcefulness of the labs (the business lab in the basement was second home and I spent more time there than at home when I pursued the marketing degree)," says Aparna. "Professionals in the industry seem to have a favorable impression of the university, school and program. This is true of P&G with whom I did my capstone project, and other marketing companies with whom I have interviewed. That always helps new graduates."
"I have been very pleased with my choice of pursuing the two degrees at the University of Cincinnati. DAAP, of course, is a very well-ranked and well-known college for architecture and design. This was a main consideration when I looked at colleges to pursue a master’s in architecture," she says. "The College of Business has been equally wonderful. I found the professors and staff very approachable and open to new ideas."
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