Rich Frank, marketing creative director for AccuWeather, was the most recent speaker in a series of talks at Penn State Greater Allegheny aimed at showing English majors the vast array of career choices available to them.

In his current role, he is responsible for the external branding and advertising efforts of the weather media company, which reaches more than 750 million users worldwide each day. 

Previously, Frank was the director of advertising and new media for the Baltimore Orioles, where he still consults for the team. Prior to working with the Orioles, Rich spent 12 years working in the advertising industry, first as a copy writer and account executive, before becoming a vice president, associate creative director at MGH, Baltimore’s largest ad agency. His work has been recognized with more than 100 national awards including the American Advertising Federation’s Addy Award as well as honors from Adweek, the National Sports Forum and Print Magazine.

Frank graduated from Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in English and lives in State College with his wife and three children. For more information on majoring in English at Penn State, contact MaryEllen Higgins, associate professor of English, at 412-675-9461 or mxh68@psu.edu.

A Penn State English major, Rich Frank has been Director of Advertising and New Media for the Baltimore Orioles. In his six seasons with the Orioles, Rich was the leader of the Major League Baseball team’s external branding, marketing and advertising – including TV, radio, print, outdoor, and online campaigns – as well as the team’s official website and social media efforts. He is now living closer to his hometown, where he is the Marketing Creative Director at AccuWeather.

Please join us to learn more about how to pursue this exciting career--plus, free pizza!

Getting a look behind-the-scenes of a live television newscast is something TV watchers rarely get to see. The talent and hard work that goes into bringing a live 30 minute broadcast to life twice a day is more than it appears.  From the director, producer, and cameraperson, to the on-air talent and the technical crew in the control booth, this team makes it look seamless and perfect when the on-air talent begins to deliver the news each day.

For the students in the Advertising and Sales Promotion Management class that toured WTAE television station, behind-the-scenes meant more than watching what goes on in the control booth, it meant discovering the strategy behind the Neilsen Ratings, why particular commercials are placed at particular times, and producing quality commercials for broadcast.

“This field trip to WTAE television station provided an opportunity for the students in the Advertising and Sales Promotion Management class to learn about the strategy and research that goes into the timing and placement of commercials based upon a targeted demographic and market,” said Andrzej Kobylanski, assistant professor of marketing at Penn State Greater Allegheny. “It also demonstrated the importance of team work and good communication skills.”

The class (Advertising and Sales Promotion Management) is a projects based course, where students apply theoretical knowledge into practice. Some of the projects that the students are currently working on include designing a billboard for Penn State Greater Allegheny; working with the Environmental Club, under the supervision of Dr. Eric Lipsky, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, to design posters, fliers, and informational labels that will be posted on recycling bins on campus; and taking part in the worldwide competition, “Google Online Marketing Challenge 2012.”

In addition, four other students, who are members of the campus’ Marketing Club, are also competing in the 2012 Smeal Case Competition, sponsored by the Kohl’s Department Stores. The Smeal Case Competition is an undergraduate competition that challenges students' knowledge, problem solving abilities, and teamwork skills to solve realistic business problems in a demanding twenty-four hour format. As a team “Penn State Greater Allegheny,” students Ben Michaux, Steven Pro, Luiza Sarbu, and Michael Vay have been chosen as one of the 16 teams that would compete in this challenge on March 22-24 at University Park, chosen from 40 teams that submitted entries (160 students, 31 teams from UP and 9 from Commonwealth campuses).

“The Smeal Case Competition is an excellent way for students to test their business knowledge in a competitive and challenging environment,” said Kobylanski, who advised the campus team along with Michelle Hough, associate professor of business administration. “Hopefully, the time spent working with the other clubs on campus and the trip to the television station will remind the students of the challenge that it takes to remain competitive.”

The Accounting option provides "Preparation for positions in business with an emphasis on the areas of financial and managerial accounting, systems and controls, auditing, and taxation” (Undergraduate Degree Program Bulletin).

Joining Management/Marketing and Individualized Business as choices for students, the new Accounting option provides a third area of concentration possible in the business major.

For more information about the business major and the new option, contact the campus program coordinator, Dr. Andrzej Kobylanski, at 412-675-9455 or auk20@psu.edu.

According to the terms of this agreement, Penn State Greater Allegheny will train about 100 faculty members from Duy Tan University to deliver 24 business courses. This training will occur over the course of four years, beginning this summer, on the Penn State Greater Allegheny campus.

From the 2010-11 academic year, Penn State Greater Allegheny also will send two faculty members to Duy Tan University every semester for at least two weeks to model and monitor the teaching of these courses with the trained faculty and Duy Tan students. During the first year, the summer train-the-trainer sessions will be held at Penn State at Greater Allegheny.

Andrzej  Kobylanski, assistant professor of business at Penn State Greater Allegheny, has been selected to present his paper, Development of Marketing Orientation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises—Eastern Europe Example, at the 2010 Costa Rica Global Conference on Business and Finance.  

The conference, sponsored by The Institute for Business and Finance Research, LLC (IBFR), will be held from May 25-28 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Theoretical and empirical papers in all areas of business, finance, marketing, management, accounting, MIS, public administration, economics, business education and related fields were submitted. Kobylanski’s paper was selected by the editor of the IBFR and a blind reviewer.