Business professor finds opportunities for students to network

Some aspect of marketing can be found in virtually every major and career path. Consumers experience marketing on a certain level on a daily (and if they're online, possibly hourly) basis. Marketing Edge, a national nonprofit organization that connects professors and college students, wants to help make students more knowledgeable about marketing generally and through networking opportunities with some of the industry's best companies. 

To that end, Rider students will be offered the opportunity to attend the Marketing Edge Collegiate Summit – Digital convention this summer in New York City. At the summit, students will participate in a series of panel discussions and workshops led by highly successful industry leaders. Students who are selected to attend the conference will have opportunities to network with business professionals from leading companies, such as Gerber Life, QuadGraphics, OgilvyOne Worldwide and IBM.

“The Collegiate Summit is a great opportunity for Rider students, and many of our previous students have had profound success by attending,” says Dr. Darrell Bartholomew, an assistant professor of marketing, advertising and legal studies

In January, Bartholomew was one of only 28 professors invited to a different but related conference, the Marketing Edge Professor’s Institute at University of Texas at Dallas. The Professor’s Institute is an invitation-only forum that brings together the next generation of marketing academics and leading marketing practitioners in the data-driven, digital marketing sphere to engage in presentations and conversations that have the potential to influence marketing curricula and current marketing practices.  

The conference, which was sponsored by Hal Brierley, the marketing executive pioneered who helped pioneer loyalty programs, took place from Jan. 3 to 5 at the University of Texas in Dallas. Bartholomew took part in presentations led by industry leaders such as the head of strategy at Google, the senior director of global marketing analytics at Fossil Group and the vice president of customer engagement solutions at IBM.

As a result of his participation in the conference, Bartholomew was able to adopt the Digital 2.0 book for the Internet Marketing (MKT 370) sections to be taught at Rider this semester.

Bartholomew hopes that students will be engaged with the summer conference sponsored by Marketing Edge. Held from June 5 to June 8, students who apply and are selected to go to the Marketing Edge Collegiate Summit – Digital Conference can attend for $300. There is also financial assistance to cover the conference fee and travel costs for attending the conference.

Applications are due by April 1, 2016, and can be found at digital.marketingEDGE.org. To qualify, students must be enrolled in a four-year bachelor's degree program, have a minimum GPA of 3.0, have internship experience and have taken at least two marketing courses at the university level. 

For any questions about this opportunity, email Dr. Bartholomew at Bartholomew@rider.edu.