When Fairfield Dolan launched the MS in Marketing Analytics and Strategy (MAS) program two years ago, Julie Marella joined the Fairfield Dolan faculty to serve as instructor of the practice and director of the program. Marella has extensive experience working as a marketing analyst for Fortune 500 companies, collaborating with brands such as Unilever, P&G, and Pepperidge Farm. Through the extensive network she’s built over the years, Marella offers her students the caliber of experiential learning opportunities that both complement coursework and lead to job interviews.

Just last month, the first cohort of MAS graduates presented their capstone projects, including work with the Bridgeport Islanders, Henkel, Nascar, and Horowitz Research. What made the presentations special was the fact that the evening was a chance for students to meet in person for the first time since the pandemic's shift to virtual learning.

“One of the remarkable aspects of the capstone projects is that our students are working with real data from the companies we partner with, to give them opportunities to assess existing or collected quantitative and qualitative data,” said Marella. “Students may execute their own surveys or use secondary data such as IRI, Nielsen, or Kantar Media. These valuable experiential learning opportunities translate to students building their professional networks and interviewing for jobs.”

In fact experiential learning is something Marella incorporates into all of her classes. Undergraduate students in her
"Sports Marketing" course are learning from the marketing execs who support the Bridgeport Islanders, the AHL affiliate for the New York Islanders hockey team. Marella has designed the syllabus so that, for example, when she teaches about partnerships one week and sales the next, her students learn through weekly Zoom calls how the Bridgeport Islanders' marketing team are applying those same concepts.

Just last month her class visited Webster Bank Arena to hear Bridgeport Islander reps from each department give career advice. The class has divided into teams and is currently selling tickets for Fairfield University Game Day on Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 3 p.m. at Webster Bank Arena. Student teams have partnered with a variety of causes across campus, including: Al's Angels, Capalbo Strong, and Meters for Myeloma; they plan to donate 20 percent of proceeds from the Dec. 5 ticket sales. The students have developed their marketing strategies, identified their primary and secondary markets for ticket sales, and by the conclusion of the course they will have planned and executed their own sports marketing event.

To learn more about marketing analytics and strategy at Fairfield Dolan visit the program web page.