MS-Marketing Program
The MS-Marketing program engages the graduate student in a specialized learning journey providing both breadth and depth of marketing coverage. MS-Marketing students receive in-depth training, via 48 credit hours of coursework, in market analysis, marketing planning, consumer behavior, market research, branding, product strategy, pricing, promotions, distribution and international issues.
A very different element of the MS-Marketing curriculum lies in the Capstone course, a five-month integrated learning approach involving external client projects completed by individual graduate student consultants. This 20-week Capstone experience allows for an in-depth application of marketing concepts (“what is being learned”) to a specific business or nonprofit organization setting. The student’s role in the Capstone is synonymous with that of an external marketing consultant, so he or she proposes a plan in response to the client’s needs and is responsible for executing that plan.
The learning philosophy of the MS-Marketing Capstone course is quite different than typical competitive MBA learning experiences. Capstone students are engaged in individual-level projects but supported within a purposefully collaborative environment. Student-generated learning presentations prompt participants to “ladder up” the learnings from their Capstone experiences to identify generalizable learning opportunities for all MS-Marketing students.
The collaborative nature of this learning experience is carried through the relational roles, triangulated between the student, the client and the Capstone faculty advisor. Clients provide confidential feedback to the Capstone faculty advisor, who, in turn, uses the input to individually coach and develop the student. Multiple rounds of such individual-level feedback provide rich input for accelerating the student’s development. The Capstone faculty advisor uses the summative client feedback in a group-level coaching format for generalized learning.
