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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Mark Poepsel, PhD, assistant professor of mass communications in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of six educators nationwide to participate in the 2016-17 Scripps Howard Foundation Visiting Professors in Social Media Program.

Poepsel, a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), will spend two weeks during the summer working with DigitasLBi Chicago to gain an in-depth look at how the marketing firm is using social media across multiple platforms.

“I plan to use what I learn from this visiting professor externship to improve the way I teach social media tracking and social media planning on a strategic level,” Poepsel said. “This could also influence the shape of my entrepreneurial media courses, and I hope it influences our curriculum on a broad level too.”

During the second phase of the program, a representative from DigitasLBi Chicago will travel to SIUE for a three-to-five-day visit.

“In terms of global media and marketing, this may be one of the most well-connected people to visit campus with extensive regional and global reach,” Poepsel added. “Large corporations and small companies are using social media to connect directly to consumers and to contributors. We need to know more about how that is done in the industry right now, so that we can better shape our curriculum for future careers.

“If companies of all sizes have learned how to work around the mass media to go directly to the people using social media, we need to create ways to put our students in the middle of that workflow. This will help us plan how to alter, amend, and add to the courses we offer."

The Scripps Howard Foundation provides grants, valued at $3,000, for each participant to cover travel, housing and other expenses. The Foundation provides another $1,000 for the outlet representative’s campus visit.

Photo: Mark Poepsel, PhD, assistant professor of mass communications in the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences.