Alumni On The Move: Amy Dukes
Amy Dukes wanted to get a master’s degree that best helped her serve others. We sat down with her to learn more about her time at WVU and how it’s shaped her career.
Q: How did your WVU Master’s Degree shape your current career path?
A: Well, I have worked in senior services and nonprofits my entire career and I've had a bunch of different roles throughout. I had the opportunity to work in marketing. I received a promotion and I thought: I need to be better in order to give this job everything that it deserves. I started looking into master's programs and finding this program specifically has been wonderful because of the integrated marketing nature of it. It's helped me to learn every aspect of marketing and that's really helped me to shape what I'm doing with my job so that the company is getting the most benefit.
Q: Did your master's degree allow you to advance in your current role or create opportunities for another job?
A: Absolutely. I think I got the promotion and then I was in a position to put my money where my mouth is, you know, to really prove that I could do this role. And I feel like the Master's program, one thing I really loved about it is I felt with each class (the way they were structured) allowed me to really focus on what I'm doing within the confines of marketing which helped me to be able to benefit my organization immediately. With every class I was able to bring something new to the role and to help to expand what we're doing within the organization.
Q: What made West Virginia University stand out from other universities when you were choosing a master's program? And are you originally from West Virginia or do you work in a different state?
A: I'm in Pittsburgh. I'm from Pittsburgh. I worked for an organization that provides some tuition reimbursement and I've worked for nonprofits my entire career. Never before have I had that opportunity. So I thought, you can't be lazy now. You've been complaining for 20 years that you don't have this opportunity, you have to do it. I started to look for programs and I actually started in an MBA program. I thought, you know, being in nonprofits, that learning more about the business world would be really helpful. What I found in the MBA program with a different university was just so generic. We were studying Tesla, we were studying BP which are really great companies to study, but never will I work at a Tesla or a BP. I work in very local nonprofits. So what I was learning there, although it was good information, it wasn't something that I could bring to the job and really utilize right away. I was unsatisfied with that and I started doing research into different programs.
What really caught my eye about the Integrated Marketing Communications program is that there were ways to specialize, and when I spoke to the recruiters for the program to really learn about it what stood out to me is in each class you can really focus on the business that you're interested in focusing on. Whether it's your business or a similar business, it helps you really take what you're learning and use it in the workforce right away.
Q: Was there any content in your coursework that challenged or changed your thinking? If so, what specifically?
A: All of it. I am old now, so learning more about digital marketing was huge for me, and really understanding social media content and just general digital marketing and how to target different audiences.
In my undergrad I studied psychology and sociology, so I understood the idea of research, but marketing research is very different and the ability to do marketing research, you're not going to get a huge number of volunteers for your research like you would in psychology and sociology.
All of the classes about research and market research were extremely helpful so that I can actually utilize what I learned, do that research in a reasonable way.
Really just looking at different companies and how their marketing has evolved, how their messaging has been consistent throughout different campaigns. That really has shaped how I think about what we're doing.
Q: Were you caring for a family or balancing other responsibilities while completing the program?
A: Yes. I am a single mom. I have two kids, my eldest was going through graduation, and my goal was to graduate before my eldest started college.
That was my goal, but I have two kids. I have a bunch of pets. I have family that I coordinate some things for and I'm working full-time in a fairly high level position. So it was a lot to do a master's degree on top of that, and I'm very proud that I was able to.
In my undergrad I graduated with a GPA of 3.96, even though I know it makes me a nerd. Going into my master's, I was like, it doesn't matter. You have to have a certain grade in order to get tuition reimbursement, but don't kill yourself to get a high grade point average. But I just couldn't. Right? So I ended up graduating with a 4.0. I was super proud of that.
It was a lot. And did something slip? Yes. Was my house as clean as it should have been? No. Were my kids quite as over mothered as they should have been? No, but we got through it.
Q: Was there a favorite spot in your home where you were doing schoolwork? Was there a desk, couch, coffee shop, or other location where you felt like you were your most productive?
A: I have a back porch that's covered. Anytime the weather permitted, I would do work on the back porch because the kids knew where I was, but they knew if they came outside and said they were bored, I would make them do yard work. So I could get work done on the back porch and the kids would only seek me out when they actually needed me. That’s my “mom hack.”
Q: Were there any specific courses, instructors or projects that stood out to you through the course of your master's program?
A: I had some really great instructors. It was really nice that the instructors have worked in the industry, so they have seen it all and they really had good suggestions. They had an understanding that yes, we're asking you to do this for school, but we understand that in the industry it's gonna be a little bit different.
I can't really highlight any one instructor because they were all really great. There was probably something that I got special from each instructor just because of their background. The discussions were absolutely amazing because you can have a discussion with your instructor, but also with your peers. It wasn't quite like being in a classroom, but the content and the focus of the discussion stayed on point because it was written and there were certain parameters around it. So there wasn't a lot of getting off topic, but I can't say one that stood out especially.
They were just all really good instructors.
Q: What would you say to someone trying to decide between this program and another marketing program?
A: I would tell anyone who's looking for a program to really push and find out how specific and specialized you can get with your own interests. That’s one thing I like about this program, even though I didn't follow one of the specialization paths that you can. If you're really interested in digital content, you're going to get a good, holistic, integrated marketing communication degree and education, but you're also going to be able to focus on your interests.
It’s never gonna feel general or like something that doesn't apply to what you're doing. With this program, for me, the key was that in each class I could focus all of my work. All of the papers I wrote, all of the discussions on the industry that I'm working in, it really did fit with what I'm doing and that was key for me to make it feel like it wasn't a waste of time.
Q: What does being a WVU alum mean to you?
A: I am really proud of it. I went to a very small local college for undergrad, and people in my area kind of know it so I can say: “this is where I went,” and they're like, “oh yeah, that's this one.”
But WVU, everyone knows WVU. It's the same level of accomplishment, but it's much more recognized. I can walk down the hall and see someone with a WVU T-shirt on and say, oh, that's where I just graduated from. Really having that connection with more alumni makes it a little bit more fun.
The other thing is there's just much more content available to WVU. If you say, I really wanna learn about this information, that knowledge exists at WVU so that you can pull in those other specialties and that knowledge, which you don't always get at a smaller university.