Mark Lodato, dean of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, and Alexander McKelvie, interim dean at the Whitman School of Management, shared insights on the university’s new creator economy minor. The responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
U.S. News: What inspired the creation of the creator economy minor, and what went into its development, especially considering how new the concept of the “creator” is?
Alexander McKelvie: The Center for the Creator Economy and its minor are the culmination of several factors:
- The explosive growth of the creator economy
- The transformed impact creators now have on business practice
- Greatly increasing student interest in becoming creators as career outcomes
- Our exceptional faculty engagement
In many ways, the creator economy is one of the most pressing movements in business, entrepreneurship and media. It incorporates factors from media, entrepreneurship, technology, business and law – and that’s why our ‘pan-university’ approach is key to capturing the nuanced areas at play.
We’re not just responding to a trend, we’re preparing students for how business fundamentally operates in this new landscape.
Courtesy of Syracuse University
Syracuse Deans Alexander McKelvie (L) and Mark Lodato (R)
U.S. News: Could you speak more about the center’s work and its larger goals?
Mark Lodato: The Center for the Creator Economy is the first academic center of its kind on a U.S. college campus, led jointly by the Newhouse School of Public Communications and Whitman School of Management – two of the top schools in their respective fields.
- That joint leadership is central to the philosophy of this initiative, the idea that you can’t really teach this field from just one angle.
- The goal is to meet students where they already are: Students with more experience in content creation can gain a stronger appreciation for the business side, or management students can develop a real understanding of the communications and creation side.
- We’ve launched a creator economy minor open to all students in the fall.
- We’re sponsoring and publishing research on trends, ethics, economics and cultural impact.
- We’re building collaborations with leading voices in this space, including Culture Media, Scalable, Jon Youshaei and MKBHD.
U.S. News: Having completed the minor, what sort of pathways open up for students? What role could offerings like this play in the existing media education landscape?
McKelvie: The tools and topics taught in the minor prepare students for a wide range of roles – not just being “the face” you see on screen.
- We’re training future talent managers, editors, business managers and data analysts who will work within established companies in the creator economy. That’s a key difference compared to high school courses where it’s like, “I’ll teach you some charisma and how to do some funny TikToks.”
- This is a much more robust, multi-perspective approach rooted in solid business training from Whitman, media training from Newhouse and other relevant skillsets from schools across campus.
- In many cases, we’re seeing an even bigger draw to the many behind-the-scenes roles within the creator economy.
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