PC School of Business establishes social media fellowship program

Sarah Alhouti, an assistant professor in the Providence College School of Business who teaches Internet marketing, is credited with the idea to create a social media fellowship program at the school. / COURTESY PROVIDENCE COLLEGE
Sarah Alhouti, an assistant professor in the Providence College School of Business who teaches Internet marketing, is credited with the idea to create a social media fellowship program at the school. / COURTESY PROVIDENCE COLLEGE

PROVIDENCE – Sylvia Maxfield, dean of the Providence College School of Business, credited a new faculty member with the idea to create a social media fellowship program.

She said Sarah Alhouti, an assistant professor in her second year at the college who teaches Internet marketing, thought the college could improve its own. Alhouti mentioned the idea for the fellowship to a donor, and from there, the seeds for the program were sown.

“One of the great things was that it was born of a need,” Maxfield said recently.

“Rarely does alumni insight, inspiration and generosity align so beautifully with faculty vision and student need; that is what happened to give rise to this innovative, new program,” Maxfield added.

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Through the fellowship, students will be able to learn and improve the School of Business’ marketing on the Internet at the same time, Maxfield said.

Alhouti said she did a social media audit, as part of a class she took in the School of Continuing Education at PC, which illumninated the school’s shortcomings in that area.

Alhouti also said many of her students want future careers in social media, so she thought it would be a good idea to incorporate them into the process. That way, she said, they could get “the skills to help them pursue the job of their dreams.” The students know the target market because they are it, she explained.

The social media fellowship program will be launched by the Providence College School of Business this fall, and five seniors will participate.

The Benjamin Family Social Media Fellowship will target students pursuing careers in new media and/or marketing, and those who complete it will receive a stipend.

The first five fellows will serve individual roles as analyst, brand journalist, chief content officer, community manager and editor.

Through the fellowship, students will strategize and manage content for the PC School of Business’ Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts. They also will create blogs and videos.

The fellowship program, endowed by Meg and Adam Benjamin, PC graduates of the class of 1991, will begin with two weeks of training in August.

Students will receive additional training and gain experience working on social media campaigns throughout the 2016-17 academic year, and they will visit social media companies in New York to get an idea of how large-scale campaigns operate.

“Social media is a way to connect people to each other and to the brands that they love,” Adam Benjamin, a group leader at Facebook, said in a statement. “Those brands can be products we buy, artists we follow, or colleges we attended. Over the years, as media has evolved from radio to TV and print, digital and social media have established ways of truly connecting and providing meaningful ways of having conversations with these brands.”

The fellowship’s major objectives are to communicate the PC School of Business’ experience and brand values to college stakeholders and potential students, and to develop a greater awareness of events, course requirements, programs and business news, according to information from PC.

Maxfield said student interest was overwhelming, as they had 100 applications for the five slots. She said they hope to offer five slots every year.

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