Academic and Professional Residency Program

Real Experience with Global Employers 

The IMC program stresses practical experience alongside marketing communications theory.  One practical component has been the individual professional summer residency program.  Over the course of 12 years, the residency program has given IMC students the opportunity to work on marketing communications projects at companies such as AOL, Discover Financial Services, Dow Chemical, DraftFCB, Facebook, FedEx, Golin Harris, Google, International Truck and Engine, MarcUSA, Miller Brewing, Motorola, OfficeMax, and US Cellular, to name a few.

Hear  from IMC students about their 2007 residencies.

Starting in 2008, IMC’s Residency Program will offer an alternative to the individual placement at a U.S. company (as before) with a Project Team Residency located at select companies abroad.  The student teams will spend two to three weeks at the sponsor’s organization, concentrating their efforts tackling a pre-arranged project challenge overseen by an IMC faculty member.  The project assignments are high-profile — the company’s senior management will review the team’s results — and by focusing on one meaningful and cohesive project, students can be sure they will get the most out of their time on-site.  The students will return to Evanston to complete the project during the remainder of the summer.

In the 2008 Project Team Residency, one group of students will spend their summer at Yum! Brands’ China offices in Shanghai working on one of the company's brands: KFC, Taco Bell, or Pizza Hut.  Additional sponsors will be added over the course of the next few months.

In contrast to the original program, students will continue to pay tuition during their time away from campus under this new option.  But unlike in the old residency, all out-of-pocket costs will be carried by the sponsors, including living expenses.  

IMC continues to aim to work with sponsoring companies in the individual professional residency approach, as well as in this new model. If  you are a company that's eager to take advantage of the fresh insights and perspectives our students have to offer, please contact Tom Collinger, IMC Department Chair at t-collinger@northwestern.edu or Nancy Bennett, Associate Director of Career Services at n-bennett@northwestern.edu.

More information  for prospective sponsors.