Communications minor becomes Penn State’s largest as students seek AI-era skills

UNIVERSITY PARK — An undergraduate minor designed to better prepare communications students for their careers has grown to become the largest academic minor at Penn State because of its combination of AI-era media strategy and hands-on experience with real-world tools and platforms.

The Digital Media Trends & Analytics minor (DMTA) was intended to complement the curriculum and empower students — and it’s done just that for the past decade.

“A faculty member told me about the minor and encouraged me to check it out because it would be helpful. That’s certainly been the case,” said Isabelle Flores, a senior advertising/public major who will graduate in December. “I’m a peer mentor for the Bellisario College and I always tell underclassmen the DMTA minor is a good move no matter your major.”

That message has reached more than just the students Flores has told. Since 2017 the minor has graduated over 1,400 students from 71 different majors across the university. There are currently 548 students enrolled.

Launching the minor

Lee Ahern, an associate professor of advertising/public relations in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, created and helped launch the minor as part of a collaboration with the College of Information Sciences and Technology in 2016. He saw the potential need and utility for the minor, and he has witnessed its reliable growth since the minor’s inception.

The 18-credit minor includes introductory courses in advertising/public relations and information systems and advanced courses in digital media metrics, digital public relations, and programmatic, AI-driven advertising. Ahern teaches a capstone Digital Campaigns class.

“These are real-world courses, and it helps us, as faculty members, to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening in industry while helping prepare students,” Ahern said. “By using real-world tools like Google Ads, students are witnessing how leading tech companies are rolling out AI functionality in real time.

“Especially with AI the last couple of years, students are looking for ways to make it clear that they’re up to date in a fast-changing marketplace," Ahern added. "With the minor, the fact that they’re able to add more skills and certifications to their toolbox is obviously appealing.”

Students in Ahern’s capstone campaigns course get hands-on experience using real-world platforms, including Google Ads, Google Analytics and the Swipe Pages landing page builder. The course also exposes students to key digital marketing tools like Google Trends, Google Rich Results Test and URL builders.

“The skills students develop using these tools, and understanding their strategic importance, position them to navigate and innovate in the modern digital media marketplace,” said Fuyuan Shen, professor and head of the Department of Advertising/Public Relations. “Prof. Ahern’s leadership of coordinator of the minor has been instrumental to the success of the DMTA minor.”

Impact and support

As digital platforms have altered the dominance of traditional platforms, the DMTA minor serves more than just advertising or communications students. In addition, better understanding AI can enhance creative development and inform both strategy and transactional efforts in almost any discipline.

The minor offers foundational theories and tools that can help combine AI and communication into modern practice.

Rather than teaching AI as a side topic, the DMTA minor positions AI as the connective tissue of digital advertising education. Students are exposed to:

• AI-assisted keyword and audience generation
• automated campaign optimization features
• generative-AI display and text ad creative tools
• data-driven decision modeling inside analytics platforms
• ethical considerations in algorithmically mediated advertising

Students don’t just learn AI — they build campaigns with it, evaluate its results, and critique its outputs with guidance from experienced faculty. In a field where creative intuition and machine-assisted precision must coexist, this balance helps prepare a workforce ready for what agencies increasingly expect on day one.

“It feels like I’ll be better prepared for my first job because of the DMTA minor,” said Sidney Newell, a senior advertising/public relations major who will graduate in May. “My dream job is to be an A&R representative for a music label or to be a creative strategist for artists, and the minor has helped me with the familiarity of important tools that can make me better. I just feel like it’ll help me stand out as a candidate.”

Both the Bellisario College and the College of IST provided consistent, foundational support for the minor. In addition, courses have been developed and/or taught by several faculty members — Krishna Jayakar, Bill Zimmerman, Heather Schoenberger and Stephanie Thomas.

“It is a team effort. So many people in administration, scheduling and advising have been committed to serving students and helping build the minor,” Ahern said. “A special thanks to Jamie Perry and Nikki DiOrio and Julie Evak.”