During the middle of September, four students from the Strategic Communication M.A. program blended their day jobs and StratCom education to become mentors for MBA students from India.
Eight students from MICA, a communications and business professional school in Ahmedabad, India, came to MSU for a cultural and educational immersion experience Sept. 16-29.
StratCom students Lindsay Gluf-Magar, Elizabeth Council, Kellie Clock and Cassie Cotton oversaw projects that directly related to their own professional jobs – from creative campaigns to email analyses.
StratCom student Kellie Clock, MICA student Neha Agarwal and MSU American Semester Program coordinator Nick Schrader pose after Agrawal presented her project.
“Mentoring a student from MICA was a fantastic experience,” said Clock, who mentored Neha Agarwal. “[The student and I] tackled a project neither of us had a great deal of experience with, and my mentee blew me away with what she had learned and accomplished in her project in just two weeks.
It was really inspiring to work with her because she was so motivated to produce good work for me, but also have a fantastic experience at MSU.
Throughout the two-week visit, the mentors would check in or meet with their mentees to give guidance and answer questions. At the end of their time at MSU, MICA students presented the findings of their projects.
Clock, who is a program coordinator with the American Semester Program at MSU’s Office for Education Abroad, said she’s able to put her mentee’s results to use.
“Neha has helped us gain a foundation in a form of marketing we were only just experimenting with,” she said. “Now we have actual data and a stating point from which we can move forward.”
Wietske van Osch, StratCom professor, presents on the science of social media to MICA students.
In addition to completing projects with their mentors, the students from MICA attended lectures from StratCom professors, ate at Brody and explored MSU’s campus.
Saleem Alhabash, StratCom professor, speaks with MICA students during his workshop on audience analytics.
Beyond campus, MICA students visited ArtPrize in Grand Rapids; GM and Leo Burnett in Detroit and The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village in Dearborn.
"MICA has sent its students for an international immersion program after several years,” said Anjali Bansal, MICA International Immersion Leader. “In the beginning, I was not sure how the program would go, but being [at] MSU was remarkable, not only for the students, but for the accompanying professors as well.
“The overall experience increased…because of the great planning, support and the hospitality provided by the MSU dean, faculties, staff and students here... We look forward to strengthen this MICA-MSU tie further."