New Courses in Management, Marketing

Syms students have found themselves surrounded with exciting new course offerings, led by Dr. Tamar Avnet, Chair of the Marketing and Management Departments. The courses are being offered as part of an overall restructuring to those departments and the Sy Syms School in general.

Following the successful launch of the marketing department’s new Social Media course last semester, Digital Media is now being offered as an elective to teach marketing students about the latest developments in practical internet advertising including SEO, banner advertising, and online tracking. “Digital media is part of the social media world, but not exactly… [I]t’s about the website and digital promotion,” Avnet told The Commentator.

Nurit Shaul, an Israeli marketing executive based in New York City, was hired to teach the class. Avnet selected Shaul because of her industry ties and practical experience in Internet marketing. Avnet described her as a professional with over ten years of experience: “I believe that for these kinds of courses, you really need someone from the industry to show students what they need.” Avnet also pointed out that, as opposed to an academic, someone working in the industry is more up-to-date in the real world application of the material.

The Digital Media course, intended to be more hands-on and geared toward students interested in working in the field, lies in contrast to the Social Media class, which is more theoretical and is a requirement for all Marketing majors. Thus, the final project for Digital Media will be a hands-on simulation of brand promotion including SEO, Facebook advertising, and AdSense. Students will receive a limited budget to promote their assigned brand across the various platforms in different rounds. Avnet noted the course, which is capped at 15 students, closed about two hours after Spring registration began.

In addition to the Marketing majors who will take the course, Avnet noted that many students studying Public Relations and Communications on the Beren Campus expressed interest in taking the class. Starting next semester, the course will be offered on the Beren Campus as part of an arrangement to alternate between campuses each semester.

In the management department, a new course called Systematic Innovative Thinking (SIT) was offered online this Fall for the first time, and will be offered again this summer. “The course is about thinking about business in innovative new ways.… [Y]ou don’t have to reinvent the wheel in order to be innovative,” Avnet said. Yoni Stern, a Yeshiva College alumnus teaches the course. According to his website, Stern has worked with Kraft, GE, Disney, and Intel, among other companies. Stern teaches SIT workshops for the MBA program at Columbia, Stanford and Wharton. Avnet described his YU course as a big success that students greatly liked. Referencing broader changes to the management department, Avnet said: “In management we are trying to teach you how to think strategy, how to think leadership.”