It is often said that learning is a lifelong experience. That has certainly been true for me. And at 64 years of age, my college learning experience has returned to where it began 47 years ago.

I began studying architecture in 1978 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and was quickly and overwhelmingly defeated by Calculus, for which I was entirely unprepared. That setback, combined with rising tuition costs, led me quickly to change course and fall back on what I considered a natural talent, art and design. I began studying Communication Design at Parsons School of Design. My grades improved, but my finances did not.

After just a few years, I had no choice but to begin earning money instead of spending it on tuition. I was able to turn an internship with Genigraphics, then a division of General Electric, into an entry position into the Marketing Communications field. My education continued, though it moved from the classroom to the office. Marketing and communication concepts that might have been learned in an intentional sequence were learned in ad hoc fashion as projects demanded. I find the most striking aspect of returning to college is the experience of having all of what I have learned put in a logical order. Its as if my education had become a hoarder’s library, and a clean-up crew has come in and organized all of the books in order neatly on shelves.

My now 42-year-old career in marketing and communication design began before the Internet, social media, email, streaming services, and 24-hour cable networks had taken hold of the world. But even dinosaurs evolved into the birds of today, and as each new technology and channel emerged it became not only a learning experience but a literal survival imperative. Market forces demanded that designers become marketers, artists become computer programmers, and gut instinct become data analysis. However, the underlying concepts of communication I learned in the 1970s through today remain consistent regardless of which technology currently determines how we communicate. The objectives, strategies, messages, audience, visuals, tactics, and analysis, are all part of the underlying foundation of why we communicate the way we do.

The details of my long and winding professional story can be found in my resume. I have benefitted from both classroom and on-the-job learning, and that has afforded me the skills to create a successful marketing career. Examples of my work appear in the portfolios below along with commentary on how the work relates to each of class learning objectives.