Business Administration - Marketing, B.S.

What is a marketing degree?

The undergraduate program in marketing centers on a framework of marketing principles, research techniques, events planning and analysis, and consumer behavior, enriched through practical applications, a global perspective, faculty mentors, and collaborative teams.

Whether you want to be a marketing director, product development specialist or developer of an innovative advertising campaign, a marketing degree from Florida Tech gives you a strong background in business and hands-on experience in current communication strategies.

A Marketing Degree Develops Skills Useful in Many Careers

The Nathan M. Bisk College of Business values innovation, diversity, ethics, and leadership as the cornerstones of a 21st century business education. Because our marketing degree program is dynamic and focused, students get started right away, taking core courses like Global Business Perspectives and Computer Applications for Business in their first year.

Marketing incorporates gathering, analyzing, managing, sharing, and responding to information. It is applicable across disciplines and provides skillsets that have a wide application across numerous potential careers especially in positions where we are interested in “why people do what they do.” Whether you want to be a psychologist, researcher, strategic planner, pricing expert, researcher, sales manager, or creative director, a marketing degree offers the tools you need for a career.

Gain Practical Experience

Students at Florida Tech are engaged in their marketing degree program with résumé-building experiences, insight into industries and disciplines for future careers, business networking opportunities, and exposure to international business and management practices.

As a senior, you’ll complete the practicum in business, a professional internship course in which you apply your business skills and savvy in a dynamic local company. As a result, you gain practical experience, an expanded professional network, and perhaps even a pre-graduation job offer.

One of the reasons students choose the Nathan M. Bisk College of Business as their marketing college of choice is because our learning environment is highly student-oriented with a small faculty-to-student ratio, allowing personalized interaction with faculty mentors. Florida Tech students benefit from small class sizes—something you rarely find at other marketing colleges.

Faculty Bring the Latest Developments Right into the Classroom

With student success of utmost importance at Florida Tech, professors make sure you are privy to valuable industry knowledge and expertise. The experienced faculty members at our marketing college have diverse backgrounds and work diligently to provide qualified instruction of real-world experiences through hands-on projects, events, promotions, and internships.

Global management program students hone their finance and international business skills through competitions, including:

• Strategic Management Intercollegiate Case Competition
• Cadillac Case Competition, where Florida Tech students placed fourth among 53 universities
• ANGA Collegiate Energy Challenge
• Honda CRZ Social Marketing Challenge
• Florida National Guard Promotion Challenge

Located in the Heart of Florida’s High-tech Corridor

Florida Tech is the perfect place for a marketing degree. The 130-acre campus is located on the Space Coast (so named because of the presence of NASA and the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral just north of us), minutes away from the Indian River Lagoon, the most diverse estuary in North America. Florida Tech is close to local business partners such as Northrop Grumman, Kennedy Space Center, and NASA. The university’s already-established outside relationships help set a strong foundation for students who seek networking, internship, and employment opportunities in their field.

The area has the fifth largest high-tech workforce in the country, with more than 5,000 high-tech corporations and government and military organizations located nearby. This workforce also provides an abundance of internship and employment opportunities.

Florida Tech is just over the causeway from the Atlantic Ocean with its 72 miles of beautiful beaches, and a short trip to the Florida Keys or the Orlando theme parks. We also have a rich campus life that includes a wide range of intramural and collegiate sports, clubs, and social activities.

Build Lasting Professional Relationships through Campus Organizations

Beyond the classroom, students earning a marketing degree build leadership experience through participation in academic organizations like the Society for the Advancement of Management, the International Business Club, student government, and over 100 other student organizations.

The business honor society Delta Mu Delta helps students make connections nationally and internationally as they prepare to enter a global job market. Delta Mu Delta also helps develop academic excellence in business students. The Florida Tech Entrepreneur Club also allows students to meet with local entrepreneurs to learn more about business first hand and exchange creative ideas. Guest speakers also share experiences and expertise to help members make smart business decisions after college.

Peerless Study and Internship Opportunities

Marketing internships at local businesses provide Florida Tech students many opportunities to test their skills in a real-world environment. By forging relationships with outside companies through marketing internships, students can take part in creating promotional campaigns for many well-known companies, including:

• Honda
• Cadillac
• Chevy
• The National Guard

Take Part in the Business Plan Resource Course or the Business Practicum

Senior year marketing students take part in the Business Plan Research Course. This class gives students a chance to utilize the skills they’ve learned in marketing internships and course study to create a business plan for a real or hypothetical business opportunity.

The Major Field Practicum, a six-hour community service requirement, also allows marketing students to gather hands-on experience with local business while helping their community. A recent example of one of these projects is Paws on Panther Plaza, a campaign by a marketing class that promoted a local animal shelter and raised funds for the program.

Students also may be invited to independent study and research positions alongside faculty where they can learn and participate in the creation of marketing knowledge or in servicing a real client. Marketing internships and activities such as these extend class learning into valuable experience.

Join the Student Business Incubator

Students who showcase innovative business ideas may be asked to join the Student Business Incubator and turn those concepts into business realities. This program gives select student startup businesses office space, computers, and other supplies to help the business get off the ground. Our students can use this equipment, along with skills obtained from business courses and marketing internships, to prepare for entering the job market.

Superb Undergraduate Research Opportunities

There are also many opportunities for hands-on learning, particularly through our Center for Entrepreneurship and New Business Development, which focuses on entrepreneurial education, global innovation, and practical research in pursuit of new venture creation, sustainability, social value creation, and venture acceleration; and our Center for Ethics and Leadership, which promotes the practice of ethical behavior and effective leadership by engaging in activities that provide a forum for research, discussion, and better understanding of ethics and leadership among all stakeholders in society. Key initiatives in the global management program include an ethics and leadership breakfast, intercollegiate ethics competition, leadership conference and projects about corporate social responsibility.

Writing marketing plans, conducting market research, gaining a command of finance and leadership skills, and understanding ethical decision-making are just a few of the skills you’ll gain for your career. A business administration degree in marketing is a valuable commodity in any business environment—public or private, for-profit or nonprofit, large or small. If you’re interested in writing marketing plans, conducting market research, developing financial plans, building teams, running a marketing firm, or being a sales or business development executive, then any one of these careers in marketing are for you.

Get Recruited Upon Graduation

Employers who have recruited Florida Tech students with a marketing degree for internships and careers include:

• GE
• Duracell
• Enterprise Rent-A-Car
• Northrop Grumman
• Harris Corp.
• Rockwell
• NASA Kennedy Space Center
• Clear Channel Outdoor

Florida Tech graduates are especially competitive in the market because of the experience and education gained while earning their degree.

Career Outlook

Careers in marketing can be very diverse. Marketing managers estimate the demand for products and services that an organization offers and identify potential markets to sell them. Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers create programs to generate interest in these products or services. Market research analysts study market conditions and help companies understand what people want, who will buy them, and at what price. This process includes other careers in marketing such as creative services, merchandising, psychology, sales, media, survey researchers, finance, and more.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, provides detailed information about hundreds of occupations, including, entry-level education, overall working environment, and employment prospects. According to the Bureau, employment for careers in marketing are expected to grow 13% through 2020, as marketing and advertising will continue to be important for organizations to compete in a growing global marketplace. This is particularly true in the management of digital media programs.

Being a sales manager is, of course, another of the potential careers in marketing. Directing organizations’ sales teams, setting sales goals, analyzing data, and developing training programs are what this job entails.

Other Career Options

• Advertising manager
• Advertising sales agent
• Art director
• Branding manager
• Copywriter
• Editor
• Graphic designer
• Manufacturing sales manager
• Marketing consultant
• Market research analyst
• Media director
• Product manager
• Promotion and event planning manager
• Public relations practitioner
• Sales director
• Strategic survey researcher
• Technical writer
• Web developer

Graduate and Doctoral Programs

After receiving their marketing degree, many of our students go on to graduate school at Florida Tech to pursue their MBA or to pursue a law degree.

Nathan M. Bisk College of Business students are eligible for entrance into Florida Tech’s FastTrack MBA. Students must maintain a 3.25 cumulative GPA and complete 95 credits to be considered for acceptance.