Miami University's Farmer School of Business (FSB) has had a successful partnership with market research company Nielsen for several years but took their alliance further this year when Miami provided Nielsen with a physical office in FSB.
Nielsen works with six universities, including Miami, to sponsor classes and provide classrooms with services. Nielsen provides the schools with teaching resources and examples of data, issues and survey techniques for students.
They have taken a new approach with Miami by including an office where students have access to one-on-one interactions with Nielsen representatives, according to one of the Co-Directors of the Miami-Nielsen alliance and Marketing Professor, Timothy Greenlee.
Nielsen has not yet collaborated with any other school to set up a physical office space. Greenlee said this gives Miami students an edge over other schools.
"The partnership has provided them with amazing insights and levels of data that I venture is unmatched at any other university in the country," Greenlee said.
According to Greenlee, weekly personal interactions with Nielsen representatives will provide students with valuable insight on the marketing research career, internships, full-time jobs, Nielsen's processes, how to interpret Nielsen's data and interview tips.
First-year finance major, Elisa Frazier, said the office could be beneficial to her business career.
"Being a freshman, I'm not sure exactly what I want to do yet, and I think that having this great opportunity with such an influential company is an exciting way to further my career development," Frazier said.
In addition to a physical office space, Nielsen provides Miami students with many resources, including access to their basic data to help students learn to read and interpret data, Greenlee said.
Dean of the Farmer School of Business Roger Jenkins said the relationship has been a valuable one.
"It is hard to overestimate the value of access to Nielsen's data," Jenkins said. "There are more Miami grads as employees of Nielsen than any other university."
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
Nielsen representatives and executives also play an important role in the classroom environment at Miami's school of business, according to Co-Director of the Miami-Nielsen alliance Gillian Oakenfull. When Oakenfull taught a study abroad class in Europe during summer 2010, Nielsen employees provided her class with data on Proctor and Gamble's Pantene brand and its competition.
"They have provided data for many classes in this way to provide our students with real-world business data that can be used to apply concepts taught in class," Oakenfull said.
Nielsen's office is located in FSB room 2007 and Nielsen representatives are available to students all day Tuesdays.
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.