By: Jake Jackson

Photo Credit: Obi Mukhopadhyay

What is your name, year, and expected graduation? Are you a member of any clubs or organizations in or outside of UMBC?

Daniel Lee, 25 Fall 2024. I used to be an active member of the Smash club and the occasional KSA and JSA. I work at Starbucks, but I guess that’s not really being a part of an organization.

When you were finishing up high school and looking into colleges was MCS your first choice for studies? If so what drew you in to studying MCS and If not what was your original major and what made you switch over to MCS?

MCS was not my first choice. I saw that UMBC had a great comp sci program so I thought I’d go ahead and take advantage of that. But as I had to do projects, I realized that I didn’t have the patience to trial and error every single step or have to scrutinize every micro detail to see if that broke my entire code. So I thought I’d move to sociology since I was more interested in why people operate the way they do. But that also made me realize that I wanted to interact with groups of people instead of looking at society as a whole. I also wanted to be more hands-on instead of being more focused on research. After a while, I looked at MCS and found that there are some core classes that I found a lot of interest in. I might have switched yet again, but ever since the pandemic, I really saw the importance of social media and how it’s going to overtake traditional media. MCS, to me, is the perfect degree to study this phenomenon and even participate in it.

What is your desired career path post graduation and how have you felt the MCS program has prepared you for this line of work?

My first goal is to be a social media manager. After that, I’d have to see what parts of managing a company’s social media would take me. Because of the amount of skills you’d have to learn to fill in the gaps of a company’s weakness, I could either push for something more creative by becoming a more prolific video editor or I could focus more on becoming an event planner or something else I didn’t foresee.

I’d say MCS 355 was probably the most important part that prepared me for it because it introduced to me the process of proposing a social media campaign to a company that doesn’t have a strong social media presence. It also taught me how there’s so many little things to take note of when building your platform. 

Have you been able to do any MCS related work or internships while you have been a student at UMBC?

I’ve only been able to be a part of the MCS Campaign team or MCS 480. Since I also have to pay for my rent and bills, I’ve had to work alongside being a full-time student even before I had enough experience to start applying. 

What has been impactful thus far in your learning? Favorite class or a class that you felt taught you valuable skills?

I’d say MCS 377 (Making Visual Culture) with Professor Anchor. Learning the basics of a variety of Adobe programs gives me an idea of how to make a variety of content and what aspects I need to pay attention to. I’ve had vague ideas of what makes some content go viral so seeing the little details and getting some practice has been pretty helpful.

How has the MCS program shaped how you view and understand media?

Starting off with understanding communication at its rudimentary was probably what helped me shape my understanding of media. Learning the fundamentals will let you better understand how the landscape of media changes and what you should do to account for it. History is always boring, but MCS managed to leverage it in a way that made the theories that have been developed over time applicable to important moments. 

Have you felt that the MCS program has prepared you for a job in the ever changing landscape of social media?

I’d say so because the classes I’ve taken in the 300+ levels feel relevant to what we’re taking today. Things like learning how to use modern creative software like Adobe Photoshop and Audition or what an employer would potentially search for and how to set up your portfolio to best display your skills. Although, I’d attribute the preparation more to talking to the professors since they’ve talked about their experience with what it’s like looking for work and how that landscape has changed ever since they first started their search. Even if a topic may be loosely related to what they’ve experienced, they will always have something more to expand upon if you asked.

What is some advice you might have for incoming MCS Students or students who might be undecided but are considering MCS?

For incoming MCS students, my advice is to look at what creative software UMBC has. Find where you can experiment with Adobe Premiere Pro or Photoshop. That stuff isn’t cheap and you have access to it for free. Another piece of advice is to REALLY connect with your professors. I know it’s generic advice, but for MCS, it’s a communication based degree. If you graduate and you haven’t made any connections with people who’ve been in the field, you’re going to struggle a lot, not only professionally, but creatively as well. The MCS professors have years of their own experience separate from UMBC and are actively working on their own projects and collaborations along with being a professor. They, at the very least, have a lot of insight for something you would work on.

For those undecided, MCS will at least give you things to think about for things we do every day. Learning how communication is carried out, what gives a group of words such importance.

By: Parker Vogel

Photo Credit: Tasayeh Nickens

Tasayeh Nickens is a recent alum of the Media and Communication Studies department at UMBC, who earned her diploma in January of 2024 and will be walking in May.

Tasayeh first went for nursing at the University of Alabama for two years before making a major shift towards UMBC since she was only five minutes away from the campus. Initially, she arrived at the Social Work major because of the way in which she could make an impact and help people, but eventually became a Media and CommunicationStudies major due to the opportunities the degree offers to help and communicate with people while also utilizing creative ideas, tools, and endeavors. She recounts always being tech savvy while growing up, being an active user on sites like Tumblr and running a personal blog, and the communicative aspect of the major was a good fit because it could take her in so many different directions post-graduation.

Tasayeh currently works two jobs, one as an operations assistant at Fearless, an impact-focused digital service integrator based in Baltimore, MD, in which she helps people through administrative work, aids in running events, and acts as a second hand to projects within the company. Her other position is as an educator for lululemon, where she brings in the more personal and friendly atmosphere to the company for a better guest experience by greeting guests and recommending products and promotions when possible.

Ideally, Tasayeh wants to work in the nonprofit sector; having tried nursing and social work as two possible majors, a communications or marketing role at a nonprofit organization seems ideal because she can do what she loves in helping others while contributing through the avenue of her degree from UMBC. The job hunt isn’t easy, though, and Tasayeh notes that the job market feels worse now than it previously did. She takes it day by day and acknowledges that no one will ever find the perfect opportunity, which is why patience and taking time to apply for worthwhile positions is a key component of the process. Over time and through applications, experience, and interviews, she says she learns what she likes and doesn’t like, and remembers that nothing is permanent and there is always room for growth and transitions, just like she saw in her academic career. She is currently in the interview process with House of Ruth Maryland’s Training Institute in Baltimore, MD, a site for community education, training, consultation, and technical assistance to professionals and the larger community on intimate partner violence. Going for a Community Engagement Specialist position, Tasayeh chooses to apply to them as she has a deep compassion for survivors experiencing intimate partner violence and wants to help in whatever means that she can. She has seen the stories and struggles of others, and this role would allow her to train people on the issues related to intimate partner violence in order to bring more knowledge and understanding to the topic.

When asked what she would love other Media and Communication Studies students to take from their time at UMBC, she recounts the resources on campus and to divide time; finding career pathways through the Career Center, engaging in outside activities like pilates, and taking any internships you can find to get a better sense of your career motivations and needs are all worthwhile tips to work up to while completing classes. In addition, Tasayeh mentions the ways the courses the media and communication studies department offer give so much opportunity to be creative and think outside the box in order to create an even stronger portfolio of work, and even the capstone course allows students to explore their passions to the fullest extent through whatever topic they so choose.