Welcome to the Early Spring 2009 semester of IMC! My name is Maureen Ater. Please call me Mo, everyone does. I will be serving as a student blogger for the IMC online community this semester.

Today marks my two year anniversary in the IMC program. It has been a challenging and exciting journey to this point, but the sweetest reward is about the come. I will graduate this May! I’ve found that all of the anxieties I had about completing an online degree were really of no concern once I entered the IMC program. The online community is very similar to the culture found in a traditional classroom. And, the access and communication with the professors was even more convenient than classroom settings. What was most challenging? The work load. Juggling full time work, family commitments and classwork can sometimes be overwhelming, especially if I was taking more than one course at a time. I found that the best way to handle the stress was to compartmentalize everything. I would repeat to myself over and over in my mind a countdown of just how many weeks and days were left in a semester. Nine weeks meant only eight or nine papers and only 45 posts. Thinking of it in that way, for me, made the work load more manageable.

My blog this semester will focus on variety of topics, including my past experiences in the IMC program, my current class (IMC 621 Current Topics), career experiences and personal anecdotes. I encourage you to comment on this weekly blog with your own thoughts and opinions. Hey, I’m just like you, I’m just writing about it for the world to read!

Just to let you know a little about me, I was born and currently live in Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I completed my undergraduate degree in Journalism from Ashland University, with minors in Political Science and Radio/Television Production and Performance. For much of my career, I’ve worked as a marketer in the non-profit sector, most recently as the Vice President of Marketing Communication for our local United Way. One year ago, I got a call from the Publisher of the local newspaper with an offer to join his team. Since then, I’ve served as the Director of Marketing for The Repository and its other Ohio publications including two other dailies, a weekly paper and a lifestyle magazine. In my role, I’m responsible for special events, brand management, community relations and new product development. I serve as a volunteer of a variety of boards including Goodwill Industries, Project REBUILD, Leadership Stark County, Domestic Violence Project and YStark, which is a development program for young professionals in our community.

I’ve been married to my husband Patrick for five years. Although we didn’t date when we were in high school, he and I grew up just down the street from one another and have gone to school together since kindergarten. He is a middle school science teacher at a private school, and helps to coach soccer and Lego robotics. We don’t have any children, but instead focus on parenting instincts on our Toy Fox Terrier named Pip. We just moved to a new home and spend much of our time painting and redecorating the new digs. This winter we’ve broke the boredom of snow and cold by joining an amateur dodge ball league and helping with the ski club at Patrick’s school. The photo below is our dog and a photo of the snowfall we received this past weekend.

Working in the media is like working for any other company, although the media industry presents some unique challenges in this day and age. The transition of newspapers from a print to an online product forces us to embrace change and evolve quickly to react to the consumers wants and needs. The decrease of print advertising revenue has encouraged a diversification of our services. Magazines, specialized web products, commercial printing and serving clients as a full service marketing organization is the key to survival and success in the marketplace.

I mention this because I strongly encourage your thoughts on this topic throughout the semester. Marketing and media are an ever changing and developing industry. Let’s all embrace this change and enjoy the ride!