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Marketing Students Receive Unique Opportunity with Union Pacific

The Marketing Department offers a special class each year in conjunction with Union Pacific, a Fortune 150 company. This is a unique opportunity for business students that no other department in the college offers. The class is open to students by application only and many of the top students in the college apply for the class. This year the Grade Point Average (GPA) of the students in the class is 3.71 out of 4.0.

The students complete four specific projects during the semester. These are projects that Union Pacific is investigating for their business. The students work in teams and the teams compete on each project to be the winner based on the judgment of management at Union Pacific. The students get direct feedback from Union Pacific management on the projects. The feedback is the same type of feedback that employees get at Union Pacific.

“From an instructor’s point of view it’s been wonderful to watch the students grow from when they start the class,” said Rob Simon professor of marketing at the College of Business Administration. “When they start their first project you see a lot of problems and a lot of issues that go on. By the third and fourth projects you see so much growth in the students over a 15 week period that it’s really inspirational. It’s because they’re getting directed feedback and they’re also stretching themselves and challenging themselves.”

The students get the opportunity to present their projects in front of Union Pacific managers both in person and via videoconference. Once a semester the students present to Union Pacific’s top marketing management team about their experience in the class. The students get the opportunity to answer questions from Union Pacific’s management team and provide feedback to them. The students also spend a day job shadowing UP employees and have a question and answer session with two members of Union Pacific’s board.

“It helps prepare students for interviews and presentations. All of them get the opportunity to interview with a manager from Union Pacific. They are presenting in front of the top management from Union Pacific so they have that experience of presenting in front of top people. Another interesting thing is that some of our students who have been placed with Union Pacific then come back and lead some of these student projects from the Union Pacific side.

“The class gives the students the opportunity to test what life is like at a Fortune 150 company and Union Pacific has the opportunity to test our top students. It’s been an invaluable experience for our students. Typically we have two or three students placed in jobs or internships with Union Pacific. It’s a great connection they make and they can all say on their resume that they basically did an intense internship for Union Pacific. Most students will not have that opportunity and it puts those in the class head and shoulders above others that are competing for the same job positions.”

Published: December 8, 2010