When you know how good you have it, you recognize this and protect it. This is how I feel about my role at MSU since my arrival in 2016. It’s the best job I’ve ever had. The best culture. The best leaders. And I got to be part of living out the mission of the Pioneer land grant university. I thought I would retire from MSU.
Until I received an opportunity of a lifetime I could not pass up.
My time at MSU has prepared me for this next opportunity and I could not be more grateful. I’m a Spartan for life and will carry that pride forward in my next chapter. Whenever we transition in life, there’s usually an opportunity to look back and reflect before moving forward. With so many stories and great memories, I distilled it into ten.
Prabu David
Everything rises and falls with leadership. I started at MSU with the best leader I’ve ever followed: Prabu David.
Prabu came to MSU a year before I did and as dean of the College of Communication Arts & Sciences. StratCom was his idea. I was the one to implement the vision. As the program started, I realized quickly that Prabu embodied all of the characteristics I long for in a leader. He’s one of the smartest people I know. But his superpower is empathy and heart. It’s a rare combination that I both thrive under and aspire to. As the program expanded, Prabu helped develop the Org/Leadership track. With a demanding schedule, he chose to make the time to build and teach a class on leadership. It’s my favorite one in the program today. I believe it was the only class he taught during his tenure at MSU. Over time, Prabu became a mentor and then a dear friend. When he left MSU to become provost at Rochester Institute of Technology, I was both sad and glad for him. The best part is when you build foundations well, they outlast our vocation. This one already has and will continue to. I would not be where I am today without Prabu David. And StratCom would not exist without his leadership and vision.
First Cohort graduates/Family Dinner
To build something with a great team for two years and then finally see the fruit from this was one of the more satisfying moments of my professional career. We started in September 2016, recruited the first cohort in 2016 and launched our first classes in January 2017. The first cohort met for our first informational session at Crunchys in East Lansing. To build relationships with them over the two years and see them graduate was huge. As the program was off and running, we decided to create some traditions for the program. One was Family Dinner. We wanted have a low key plated dinner for grads and families to celebrate their accomplishments. It also provided grads and families an opportunity to share publicly their pride and appreciation. Family dinner is still my favorite day of the year. That first cohort was the most memorable in so many ways. I’m still connected with most of the students to this day. This cohort helped form the DNA of the program and the trajectory of what kind of program we wanted to build: A program with heart.
PARTNERSHIPS IN INDIA
A few years into the program in 2018, we were provided an opportunity to take StratCom global. A partner university in Ahmedabad, India, MICA, invited our college leadership to a global communication conference they hosted. We shared time together with their leadership and ours. It was an instant connection with shared values and a desire to partner. It began planting the seeds of a more academic partnership between MICA and ComArtSci. We learned over time that StratCom was not the best fit, but the relationships opened up other opportunities. My second year attending with Dean David, I had opportunity to present and win my first (and only) academic award. I proudly display it in my home office. I fell in love with the place, the people and their mission. The fruit again from these partnerships were lifelong connections I still have today.
China/Hainan Partnership
In 2017, one of our Chinese-American faculty provided our college with opportunity to build some global partnerships. He, Prabu David, and I traveled to six different cities in eight days to meet the top colleges in China and begin partnerships. One scenario was to build a version of StratCom in China and also a hybrid version where Chinese students could study in East Lansing. This whirlwind trip opened up conversations over the years that matured into an official partnership with the Communication University of China last year. Last December, our leadership traveled to Hainan, Beijing and Seoul, Korea to formalize and begin implementation strategies. These long term projects also gave me opportunity to make friendships with our Chinese counterparts as well as university leaders here at MSU.
Level Up
A few years back we decided to create a leadership series to be a resource not just to students, but to anyone interested in growing professionally. We partnered with WKAR and enlisted the help of Merri Jo Bales to host these conversations. Not only were the episodes fun to produce, but the benefit was meeting some of the most amazing leaders and learning under them.
One of the gems I tucked away and thought of in my transition was from Marcie Perez. She’s the director of experience for Cadillac. I was pinch-hitting for Merri Jo to do the interview and as we going over the show over coffee, I asked her about her ascension in Cadillac/GM. She shared a story of a person who believed in her and offered her a job that was a few levels higher than where she was. Then she shared a gem I will never forget and I’ve shared with many students to inspire them since. She said, “If your resume and the job description you’re applying for is 100% the same, that’s not your next job. Your next job you should be 50% qualified and the other 50% should scare the hell out of you.”. I’ll never forget that conversation. And I’m living that today. Thanks, Marcie, Matty, Phil, Reed, Anne Marie, Casey, Whitney, Erica, Roger and Laurel. Every conversation was gold.
Level Up Landing Page With All Episodes
Program + Certificate Expansion
I’ll never forget spring 2017 when I flew to Washington, DC. The program was brand new. We had three students who lived in the area, and I went to interview all three for student stories. One is Josh Paciorcek. At the time, Josh was working as the Deputy Communication Director for Vice President Pence. I interviewed Josh outside the Eisenhower building and then we walked across the street for coffee. He birthed two big ideas over that coffee that exist today. The first was to connect alumni for contract work and hiring. The second was to offer areas of specialization in the program. StratCom 1.0 was 10 courses. What evolved from that conversation was a 2-year project to create StratCom 2.0: core courses plus electives to specialize. It also provided three standalone certificates as options.
This trip solidified the DNA for the program to see the students as co-authors of the program. It also opened up a new season of growth the program hasn’t seen since.
Merri Jo Bales
Anyone who is in leadership knows how hard it is. It can also be lonely. Early on in the program’s inception, I was introduced to Merri Jo Bales. Merri Jo is a Spartan who was a senior leader of Consumers Energy, alumni board chair and leadership consultant, and due to sheer luck, became a mentor and friend. During my tenure, Merri Jo came out of retirement to serve as the vice president and strategic director of university communications for Michigan State University. As she mentored me, she modeled in helping reorganize the university’s communication department. Merri Jo’s super power is strategy. She knows how to develop and build at the highest levels. I’ll never forget our first meeting in my office. I asked her if she’d be willing to mentor me to get the strategy right. Fortunately she said yes. I’m a better leader today because of Merri Jo. StratCom isn’t what it is today without her. She and her husband Randy did more than just help from behind the scenes. In 2017, they established the Merri Jo Bales Fund for Strategic Communication, an endowment used to enhance and support the program. For all of this and more, thank you Merri Jo.
5th Anniversary Event
May 2023 was a big deal. It was the 5th anniversary of our first graduating cohort. We decided to have a party. The event signaled the end of the program as an incubator. It showcased our grads sharing success stories over five years, our faculty who were the guides in the program, and Prabu’s steady leadership over the years. The only setback was – in true Michigan fashion – rain, wind and 40 degree temps in May. We we rallied and celebrated well. Many of the early cohorts traveled long distance to join. As I took a few snapshots in my heart, it gave me great joy to see something we had built succeeding for so many people.
Teaching
I’ve been teaching in many different forms and fashions since I was 20. I love it. I’m much better today than I was then and still recognize I have a way to go. The course I teach in StratCom, Strategic Message Development, has consistently received great reviews and I regularly hear from students how the course helped them in their current role or land the big promotion. To know the work I do behind the scenes and through the class mattering for people’s lives gives me great joy and satisfaction.
Student Success Stories
When I do calls with prospective students, I share with them my “why”. Simon Senek talks about this in his famous TED talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”. The nutshell: Our why informs our what and then our how.
My why is “I want you to have a better life”.
When I see LinkedIn posts or get emails or text messages from students sharing that the program mattered for them, it’s the greatest validation of what we do and why we keep doing it. There are grads who work at Google, Microsoft, the Pentagon, NASA, Miller Knoll, John Deere, NFL, NBC Universal and many more. Their stories are rocket fuel for what has driven me to be a part of a team to build something that matters deeply for people, their careers, families and ultimately, their lives. For this reason and many more, I am thankful for the privilege to serve.
Read and Watch All Stories Since We Started
Sincere Gratitude
Thank you to all of the people who contributed to the success of the program. There are too many to mention. From the instructional design team, D2L ninjas, fellow program directors, ComArtSci faculty and support staff, thank you. Thank you to the alumni of the program. You trusted us and I hope we delivered what you had hoped for.
Go Green!