Many who have earned a degree from the Department of Media and Communication have moved on to contribute to the industry in very impactful ways. Check out some of our alumni and what they've accomplished upon graduating.
Meet Raina Wiseman
Wiseman is a media and communication alumni. She graduated with a bachelor’s in Media and Communication and a master’s in Brand and Media Strategy. Today, she works as the Director of Operations and Marketing for the ETSU research corporation.
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What was your graduation year?
I actually graduated from the Media and Communication department twice. Once in 2018 with my bachelor’s in media and Communication. At the time we still had concentrations and I concentrated in journalism, advertising and public relations.
I also graduated in 2020 with my masters in Brand and Media Strategy.
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Did you originally enroll as a Media and Communication major?
I originally started out as a pharmaceutical student. I was on the chemistry track for pre pharmacy. I ended up getting tired of being in labs all the time and was bored.
I was taking an Argument and Debate class and realized that I love these things, writing, talking, arguing points.
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What led you to develop interest in this field?
That class pretty much led me to the Media and Communications department. I basically looked at the information on the website and saw that it kind of blended English and Argument and Debate and felt like it was perfect. -
Are there any classes or experiences you found memorable while attending ETSU?
It’s hard to pinpoint one moment that was a good time within the Media and Communication department because honestly every single moment was really good. I mean, I liked it enough that I stayed around and got a master’s degree in the same department. So, if that doesn’t tell you how much I love it, what else does? I just really love that the department focused on experiential learning, because I think it's one thing to sit in a classroom and learn about how to do something but it's another to actually take that information that you learned and apply it in a real-world situation. -
How has your education at ETSU benefitted your professional career?
Currently, I work as the Director of Operations and Marketing for the ETSU research corporation. Every single experience that I had in the department of Media and Communication has led me to this point. I use journalism skills, advertising skills and PR skills almost every single day. -
What skills are you accessing now that were refined through your time at ETSU?
I always say my number one is writing, if you can write you can do anything within the media field. I started as a journalism student and then I slowly took on advertising and PR during my time as an undergrad.
Learning how to write with a journalism foundation has been essential because you learn the basics like AP style, but you also learn how to tell a story. This has made my transition to the workforce much easier as I’m able to tell brand stories, not just for the research corporation that I work for now, but also brand stories for our clients that we work with.
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What are you doing now?
In the Research Corporation we have lots of different clients from within ETSU and outside of the university.
We do a lot of marketing that's focused on telling their story, what they're currently doing, and events that they've got going on. We then take that information and prepare tactics around it like press releases, news releases, advertising social media, all of that.
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How do you plan to apply what you’ve learned to achieve your goals?
I was very well prepared during my time in school because I got lots of that hands-on actual real-world experience, so the transition to a professional career really wasn't that tremendous because I'd already done a lot of that work while I was in school.
As a student, I worked at the East Tennessean. It was nice to be in that environment as it was very professional, but if we were to slip up, we had the safety net of the university behind us. This allowed me to learn from my mistakes, preparing me for many of the challenges I face today.
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Is there anything you want to share with upcoming graduates?
My number one piece of advice for any college student, but especially for students who are in this field, is that college is what you make it. You can go to class every single day, you can make 100 on every single assignment and test and that's fantastic. But that's not going to get you a job, what's going to get you a job is being able to show that you have worked on projects, you've done things on your own, you've taken on internships, you've taken on projects, you've taken on a side hustle. That's the piece that you're going to be able to show in your portfolio when it comes to graduation day to potential employers. Having a degree is wonderful and it’s vital to get but having the experience to back it up is what really makes you stand out.
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