SCHOLAR EXPLORES SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF ADVERTISING

Audrey Wilson comes to IU as one of MFFP’s yearlong fellows.  She’s just recently finished her dissertation, entitled, “Strategic Imaging in Academe: An Exploratory Analysis of Constituency Perceptions,” for Southern Illinois University-Carbondale’s Speech and Public Relations Division of Journalism.  Wilson also earned her B.S. from that university, as well as a M.S. in Journalism-Advertising from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Between her two graduate programs, she spent extensive time in the private sector.

While working on her master’s degree, Wilson knew she wanted to “combine marketing, PR, and advertising in a job, but,” she said, “I didn’t immediately see a job that integrated these skills.  I did a thesis on shopping center marketing, and during my research I interviewed certified marketing directors for shopping centers.”  This position seemed to combine all aspects of her dream job.  After completing her masters and an unpaid internship, she found such a position with Melvin Simon & Associates, and worked for them for nearly five years, advancing quickly from Assistant Marketing Director to Marketing Director of several mid-western divisions.  Wilson considers such work in the private sector as requisite to teaching advertising within any journalism program, but was eventually drawn back to higher education, first as a counselor and adjunct professor, and finally as a Ph.D. student.

It was while teaching in Chicago that Wilson was asked by the Harold Washington College President to research recruitment marketing, and it was this research that led into her dissertation work.   She studied institutionally modeled images of colleges and universities, and how those images are disseminated.  Wilson employed a systems theory, examining the ways images are compared by prospective students at the macro, or university level, as well as the micro, or departmental levels.  She discovered that image is built upon marketing strategies as much as upon word-of-mouth reputation, that it is co-constructed by the institution as well as that institution’s constituency.  This research has led into some current projects, including one that examines diversity representation in college advertisement campaigns, the range of both majority and minority student desire for diversity, as well as their wariness of unrepresentational imaging of campus demographics.

Wilson takes up such social issues and consumer response in her two courses offered through IU’s School of Journalism this semester.   She’s teaching J438, “Problems in Advertising,” which examines the social implications, legalities, and ethics of contemporary advertising, and J360, “Integrated Marketing Communications.”  Wilson said that her students, mostly juniors and seniors, are enthusiastic and interesting.  Many have already done internships in the private sector, and hence can bring experiential learning into classroom discussions.

While not teaching, Wilson said, she has plenty of opportunities for formal social interaction with colleagues within the School of Journalism and elsewhere.  She commended a reception held early this fall for new faculty, as well as the kindness of professors within her program.  In closing, she said, “I really appreciate the opportunity Strategic Hiring and Support has made available to me in this yearlong fellowship.  IU is a great institution.”