The Department of Marketing Communication

Our undergraduate and graduate programs prepare creative, strategic, and ethical professional communicators who understand the power of messages to influence attitudes and behaviors and who can design and manage strategic campaigns for diverse profit and non-profit organizations and clients.

Courses balance a solid grounding in theory with practical training in professional skills. Students complete courses in marketing, advertising, public relations, consumer behavior, writing, creative design, and campaign planning that prepare them for careers in the integrated fields of advertising, public relations, brand communication, direct/database marketing, social marketing, and e-communication.

Students learn beyond the classroom through internships (locally with Industry Partners in the Boston area or globally in locations such as Los Angeles, the Netherlands, and Taiwan), involvement in organizations such as EmComm (a student-run integrated marketing communication agency), PRSSA (a student chapter of the Public Relations Society of America), and AMACC (a student chapter of the American Marketing Association), and participation in national and international competitions. Opportunities for students to develop their own independent business ventures are provided through our Business &  Entrepreneurial Studies programs.

Students also learn from diverse Marketing Communicators; experts and scholars in the field who participate in our fall and spring Speakers Series and other department events.

Our students also have many opportunities at both the undergraduate and graduate level to participate in prestigious student competitions put on by the International Advertising Association, American Advertising Federation, Public Relations Student Society of America and other internationally recognized professional associations.

At the graduate level, we are pleased to announce that our team of students in the Global Marketing Communication & Advertising program were the 2007 North American Regional Winners and the 2006 World Champions in the International Advertising Association (IAA) InterAd X student advertising competition.

Experience the world class winning presentation.

Our undergraduate students participate in the annual American Advertising Federation competition. Emerson's team has won top honors at the district level four out of the past eight years, including three years running from 2001-2004. On the national stage, the team has consistently ranked high in the top twenty, taking second place in 2003, and becoming the first team from the New England area to place at the national level.

Students' first time entry in the PRSSA Bateman Competition earned them an honorable mention (2005).