Two new academic programs capture growing interests of Saint Michael’s students

This year, Saint Michael’s College added several new academic programs in response to growing interest in the disciplines of Digital Marketing and Aquatic and Marine Biology.  

Digital Marketing is a new major. The program was built through a collaboration between the Business and Accounting Department and the Digital Media and Communications Department. The curriculum is focused on the rise of digital marketing and how it overlaps with other fields of study.  

“It recognizes that marketing expenditure, across the world but specifically in the U.S., is increasing toward digital marketing – marketing across search engines, across social media, across brands’ own websites, much more than any expenditure toward traditional means of marketing,” said Digital Marketing Professor Sebastiaan Gorissen.  

Saint Michael’s College Digital Marketing Professor, Sebastiaan Gorissen.

The Digital Marketing major is similar to a study of storytelling, Gorissen said, but the type of content created and the audience being targeted are different in a digital context. Digital marketing has its own methodologies, theories, and considerations; it does not follow the same playbook as traditional marketing, Gorissen said. 

 “Digital marketing is its own beast,” he added.  

At the forefront of the major is social responsibility. As Gorissen described it, marketing is often thought of as a “moral gray area,” but the major program intends to focus on the social responsibility that comes with marketing. The reality is that marketing has been used to harm people as well as help them. 

“We don’t just want people to learn how to create content and how to be persuasive and how to sell their product, but to do so in a socially responsible manner and to be mindful of the power they wield when they speak to people at the scale that digital marketing entails,” said Gorissen.  

The other new program at Saint Michael’s is an Aquatic and Marine Biology minor, which is geared toward exploring the biology of freshwater and saltwater ecosystems.  

Saint Michael’s Biology Professor Declan McCabe working with a student on Lake Champlain in 2017.

“The minor includes a grounding in ecology and evolution and a series of courses and/or internships and other experiences that are primarily water-based,” said Biology Professor Declan McCabe. Students can take courses on campus, participate in research, and take Marine Biology courses through study-abroad programs.   

The program is designed to give students the skills and experiences needed to work in aquatic and marine biology after they graduate.  

“This minor will complement our existing programs to help prepare our graduates for diverse career opportunities in environmental consulting, fish hatcheries, aquariums, state and federal agencies, and not-for-profits like Massachusetts Audubon,” McCabe said. “In addition, the program can help our students by helping them be more aware of the aquatic and marine opportunities that exist.”  

The Aquatic and Marine Biology minor addresses an area that has been of interest to many current and prospective students. In the past, students have participated in various aquatic-based internships and taken part in research with Saint Michael’s professors. McCabe said the Biology Department is excited to acknowledge those achievements with this new minor.