Brittany Murphy

Photography- Professor Margaret Ojala, St. Olaf College

 

I orginally had decided to take photography to exapand my skills in marketing and to learn how to use the art to capture a moment in time. In this course, I focused on film photography and learned how to develop film, various editing strategies, and how to mount photos. In addition, I also utilized digital photography and developed my skills within Photoshop. 

 

Entrepreneurship- Professor Sian Muir, St. Olaf College

 

During the course of Entrepreneurship, we were assigned to a group and had to create a hypothetical company, and design a business plan to promote the company's products and services. For my project, my group created AWARE Packaging, a company focused on prodividng innovative biodegradable packaging services for local food hubs in the greater Minneapolis region. During this semester project, I: 

• Averaged 15 hours a week performing marketing research for a hypothetical biodegradable packaging company that would service the food hub industry in greater Minneapolis  

• Reached out to professionals in the packaging and food industries to discuss potential product interest based off of a value proposition plan

• Targeted businesses originally involved: General Mills, Jonny Pops, Malt-O-Meal

• Once target market was achieved, targeted business involved: The Wedge, EcoPure and Co-op Partners Warehouse (St. Paul)

• Developed a 50 page business plan, including: marketing plan, production process and general company description, operational plan, growth plan, financial plan and exit strategy

 

 

Industrial/Organizational Psychology- Scott Boyd, St. Olaf College 

 

Scott Boyd's class was my first look into Industrial/Organizational Psychology. I greatly enjoyed the course as a psychology major,         and it gave me great insight into how I/O psychologists are becoming key players in managing and developing employees. In the           modern world, businesses are increasingly beginning to value the importance of the happiness and productivity of their employees.     Without these factors, a buisness will not be able to compete. Scott's class helped to reaffirm my passion for Human Resources, and     allowed for me to see how professionals in the field collaborate with I/O psychologists in order to manage employee relations. 

 

 

Marketing- Professor Sian Muir, St. Olaf College 

 

In Professor Muir's class, we analyzed various industries and looked into the marketing techniques for B2B practices and B to customer processes. We performed our own market research and analysis, and practiced key marketing techniques such as a SWOT analysis and wrote a marketing plan. In this class, I was able to explore my interests in the world of marketing while performing first-hand research. The class was highly informative, and I applied lessons from the course to an internship that I had performing marketing research at Stericycle, a medical waste company headquarted in Vernon Hills, IL. During this semester project, I: 

 

• Averaged 10 hours a week performing marketing research for the development of CityTarget.

 

• Developed a 45 page marketing plan, which included: a strategic industry assessment, a comprehensive SWOT analysis, segmentation, targeting and positioning of the market, marketing mix, and plan for implementation. 

 

• Developed the character "Bullseye" to be utilized in marketing campaigns and designed graphics for promotions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Management- Professor Richard Goedde, St. Olaf College 

 

Professor Goedde's class was one of my first courses that I took at St. Olaf that directly related to managment practices in a business setting. His class was highly informative, and he encouraged us to think outside the box when we performed case studies on real life scenarios. This course helped me to get a feel for reality of the business world, and also helped me to understand the role of Human Resources in a company. 

 

 

History and Methods- Professor Chuck Huff, St. Olaf College 

 

My class with Professor Huff was one of the first courses that I took at St. Olaf that highly stressed the importance of critical thinking in relation to research. Professor Huff encouraged us to think beyond the information given by a particular author, and helped me to understand that one can never know an absolute answer without exploring many different types of possibilities. All in all, this course encouraged me to approach new studies and findings with an open but critical eye. 

 

 

Strategic Communication- Benjamin Holk, Danish Institute of Study Abroad

 

While I studied abroad in Denmark for the spring semster of 2014, I took a course with Benjamin Holk, Professor of Strategic Communication. In this course, we analyzed Danish marketing campaigns and communications tactics while seeing how they compared to American marketing techniques. Benjamin encouraged us to think through a cross-cultural lens, and showed the many ways in which communication has a significant impact on Danish culture.