STRATIX SYSTEMS AND MORAVIAN COLLEGE:
A PERFECT PAIRING FOR STUDENT BENEFIT
The power of partnership brings another valuable student opportunity to campus this spring.
Stratix Systems, a leading provider of business technology and managed services, headquartered just outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, has collaborated with Moravian University to create The Stratix Systems Marketing Partnership. This initiative builds from shared core values of life-long learning, action-based research and practical experience, and creates a framework through which college students and company employees interact in learning, inquiry, problem solving and implementation within the context of the marketing environment, competitive advantage, market opportunities and strategies for managing the marketing mix.
“The Stratix Systems Marketing Partnership combines the best of both worlds,” says Santo D. Marabella, MBA, DSW, professor of management. “We at Moravian University are committed to excellence in academics, and at the same time, we understand the value of professional experience. The Marketing Partnership provides another opportunity for students to be critical thinkers, presenters and persuaders to their point of view.”
The program is two-fold and includes a student marketing competition and a research fellowship.
The Student Competition
Participants will delve into a timely marketing theme identified by Stratix. For example, students might explore innovations in cold calling or examine whether social media is underused or overdone; then they’ll create a 10-minute presentation to a juried panel of employees from Stratix. Finalists will be selected to present their work to Stratix executives, and winners will receive a cash prize from a pool of $1500 (the awarding of those dollars to be determined by the makeup of the participants—graduate, undergraduate or both).
The competition will take place in the fall once the program is fully underway, but it will roll out this spring on a compressed timetable: deadline to apply is March 1. The marketing theme will be announced Monday, January 25.
Graduate and junior- and senior-level undergraduate students of any major who have a 2.0 GPA and are in good standing with the University are welcome to participate. Ten will be selected from among those interested. For more information, contact Professor Marabella at marabellas@moravian.edu, who is coordinating the effort until a permanent faculty advisor is selected.
The Student Fellowship
The second component of the partnership is a Research Fellow. If a student is selected for the marketing fellowship, the student will work on a real-time marketing question or challenge facing Stratix Systems. For example, he or she might explore and develop a plan to market the company’s IT services to a specific prospective client or, more broadly, to a targeted industry or business.
The Fellowship requires a minimum of 15 hours a week for 12 weeks beginning in May and the Fellow will receive a $2500 stipend, part of which covers the cost of the full unit credit that will be earned by the Fellow. “This is a wonderful opportunity that builds on academic work, research, inquiry, and strategic thinking to create solutions to real-world marketing situations,” says Marabella.
The deadline for Fellowship applications is March 21. The college will present several qualified candidates to Stratix Systems and the successful candidate will be announced before the end of the spring term. Dr. Marabella can provide more information and the application.