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We are Rowan Engineering students maintaining a nearly 100 percent placement rate after graduation. We are business majors not just finding jobs in finance, management and accounting, but developing entrepreneurial skills to become employers ourselves. We are Communication graduates landing plum assignments in public relations and advertising, radio, television and film. We are educators consistently finding teaching positions within New Jersey and beyond.
The stage and studio experience we develop in the College of Performing Arts puts us in demand. And as students of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and the College of Sciences & Mathematics, we are finding success in fields ranging from law and medicine to environmental studies.
With a focus on experiential learning across the university and opportunities for graduate-level research while still an undergrad, we aren't just ready to take on the world, we’re doing it! We are Rowan and we are in demand. Learn more today about the Rowan advantage.
Communication grad finds her NOOK® in the world
Melissa Volpe Venditti '04 has found her niche at Barnes & Noble.com's NOOK marketing department. As the staff video producer, she shoots, edits, produces and animates promotional videos for NOOK digital readers, including digital books, apps and NOOK features.
I've shot and edited tutorials on how to use a NOOK, interviews with celebrities and authors including Giada de Laurentis and Lisa See for new digital book releases and a short film on our booksellers who develop the NOOK Readers, explaining where they get their ideas for how to make NOOK even better," Venditti said.
"It's been awesome to be a part of one of the most dynamic teams in the company and doing my part to help NOOK evolve into the bestselling product line it is today."
One successful project for Venditti and the NOOK team was the new digital signage videos introduced in over 600 stores last fall. "The videos are played in the NOOK Boutique™ section of the store," she said, "and give customers not only an idea of what great features each NOOK has to offer but also information about special promotions, events and new book and NOOK App releases."
Venditti noted how "cool" it is to walk into a Barnes & Noble halfway across the country and see her work front and center. "The store personnel are always impressed and tell me how much customers love the digital signage videos. [They say] 'You made that? Really?'"
"The Rowan radio/TV/film program gave me the hands-on training in producing, camera work and editing to make me as attractive as possible to prospective employers."
- Melissa Volpe Venditti '04
Venditti attributes her extensive creating, editing and producing skills to a love of learning and a strong foundation of video production knowledge gained at Rowan. "The Rowan radio/TV/film program," she said, "gave me the hands-on training in producing, camera work and editing to make me as attractive as possible to prospective employers."
After graduation, Venditti worked as a production assistant and associate producer at MTV and then as the main producer and shooter for Alloy Digital's main site, Teen.com. As for students wanting to follow in her steps, Venditti offered this advice:
"Constantly challenge what you think you know and the skills you think you have. Over the past several years, I have often found myself needing to learn a new skill or figure out how to execute a project that I had never done before. Rather than just give in and suggest that the work be passed off to someone else, I always tried to take on the project myself and learn along the way, whether it was from online research or from picking the brain of a friend with expertise in that area," she said.
"Also, keep your skills sharp, intern as much as you possibly can and network, network, network! You have to know what you are doing and have the portfolio or demo reel to prove it, but you also need contacts to get where to want to go,” she said. “I have never landed a job solely by answering an ad or applying online. I always had a friend or contact at the company where I was applying to help get my résumé in front of the right people."
Article adapted from Rowan Today Magazine. (Summer 2012)
