Marketing

The Marketing program curriculum includes courses that are designed to develop and sharpen your skills in analyzing and solving market problems in the following areas:

• Business to business
• Consumer behavior
• International marketing
• Internet marketing
• Management
• Marketing analysis and planning
• New product development
• Quantitative methods
• Sales strategy and technology

As a Marketing major, you will choose either the Standard or Sales Leadership concentration.

The standard marketing concentration will provide you with a broad range of knowledge of marketing and allow you to pursue a variety of careers in the industry.  Your electives will focus on many areas involved in marketing, including:

•     Advertising
•     Market research
•     Marketing management
•     Sales management

The sales leadership concentration combines classroom learning with real-world experiences, preparing you for independence, financial reward and professional growth opportunities that often come with success in sales.

As a sales leadership student, you will take courses that focus on:

• Development of organizational leadership in a sales environment
• Oral and written communication
• Selling technique and networking
• Use of technology in customer strategy and identification

Sales leadership courses are led by faculty with extensive sales experience and by sales executives from leading corporations, providing you with insight into how to become successful in the sales industry. You will also have the opportunity to visit sales teams at companies in Chicago, complete internships and interview with leading organizations for entry-level positions.

As a Marketing major, you may be selected for its Integrated Marketing Education (IME) honors sequence. The IME course sequence emphasizes doing as the basis for learning. You will take courses that focus on:

•     Information gathering analysis
•     Strategic planning
•     Tactical decision-making

Classes focus on the completion of "milestone" projects that you will complete as part of a marketing team, and you will be coached and mentored by faculty and business professionals. Through these projects, you will understand the roles and responsibilities of marketing managers and become prepared to enter the workforce.

You will also gain hands-on experience in the marketing industry by completing a directed internship with a local business in an area of marketing in which you are interested. The marketing department has internship relationships with advertising and public relations firms, internet and social media marketing agencies, research firms, non-profit organizations and manufacturers.