The School of Business at Southern Utah University introduced the Marketing Club this semester — a new opportunity for marketing students to get hands-on experience and network with each other.
The club’s president Teri Haws, a senior studying marketing and preparing for SUU’s Master of Business Administration program in the spring, had been planning the club’s arrival all summer. Haws also serves as the marketing representative alongside Business Senator Matthew Matheson.
Hoping to better understand SUU’s campus environment during COVID-19, Haws and Matheson discussed the club’s future throughout the summer. The Marketing Club became official a few weeks into the fall semester, Haws said.
“We kind of decided that we were going to make it happen, maybe kind of selfishly for the two of us because we, as marketing students, really wanted something,” Haws said. “But we knew that with the vision we had in mind that a lot of marketing students would benefit from it also.”
Although the club is still laying its groundwork, their first meeting of the semester had close to 45 students in attendance, according to Haws.
To keep the excitement, Haws designed a competition for club members to design and submit a club logo. With the help of judging expertise from SUU Professor Travis Simkins and Professor Cordelle Morris from Southwest Technical College, the club selected its official logo from eight different submissions.
According to Haws, this logo represents exactly what the club stands for: networking and hands-on experience.
Regular club meetings include guest speakers with professional careers in marketing, as well as games to help connect members. Although currently restricted to virtual gatherings due to new social distancing mandates, the Marketing Club hopes to continue in-person meetings next semester.
The club is not limited to marketing students, and Haws encourages those from outside departments to join and network with each other.
“I think that when other people come over it kind of adds diversity to our club. And I think it’s super awesome because, you know, as a senior in marketing I feel like the only people I ever get to really interact with are seniors in marketing. So getting to kind of expand my network with people from other parts of campus is pretty cool,” Haws said.
The Marketing Club meets every other Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Entrepreneurship Center in the Business Building. On Monday, Nov. 16 Haws is encouraging members to attend the virtual Marketing Lunch & Learn with keynote speaker Darrell Eves at 12 p.m. Information containing the Zoom link is yet to be announced.
According to Eves’ Youtube channel he is a “YouTube and Video marketing consultant with a large amount of his background in social media, mobile, and video marketing” and has worked with “some of the biggest YouTube channels, brands and businesses in the world.”
“It’s not very often that somebody like that offers to come present to marketing students,” Haws concluded.
Story by Amanda Walton
life@suunews.net
Photos courtesy of Teri Haws
