Rondene Grinam鈥檚 list of undergraduate degrees is impressive: A major in communication with a concentration in public relations, and minors in global affairs and journalism. Which sounds great if you want to be, say, a foreign correspondent.
鈥淏ut I decided I wanted to go into international marketing,鈥 she said.
Dealing with business on a global scale required higher education that a bachelor鈥檚 degree, and as Grinam searched the graduate school landscape to find a good fit for her experience and ambition, she discovered the聽聽program at the Schar School of Policy and Government at 亚洲AV, located in Arlington, VA in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
鈥淚 saw the international commerce and policy program and thought it was so cool because it was basically a mixture of international relations degrees and business鈥攈ow the two intersect,鈥 the 2018 graduate said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 really valuable in the world we live in today.鈥
The program is also flexible, she added, allowing students to tailor the master鈥檚 degree to fit their own goals.
While the Schar School鈥檚 Master鈥檚 in International Commerce and Policy program boasts some of the top professors in the field鈥攊ncluding many past and current practitioners at key agencies and commissions鈥攑rogram director Kenneth Reinert suggests classroom learning needs to be supplemented with travel abroad.
"The Schar School study abroad program has always been an important aspect of the international commerce degree,鈥 said Reinert. 鈥淏eing able to spend time in other countries, talking to educators, politicians, and business people, opens up an important 鈥榬eal-world鈥 window not always available in the classroom.
鈥淢any of our students and instructors are from other countries, but visiting those countries in an educational capacity is an invaluable addition to the degree."
Grinam, a native of Jamaica, chose to enroll in one of the Schar School鈥檚 most lauded short-term study abroad programs鈥攖he one-week Oxford Entrepreneurial Leadership for the Global Marketplace, offered in the summer at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
During her time in England, Grinam was exposed to 鈥渢he importance of cultural considerations, social and political aspects, what you can and cannot say, and what will resonate with the people you are marketing to in another country and another culture.
鈥淚t鈥檚 basically why I was in the international commerce graduate program, to learn things like that. That鈥檚 really where my passion lies.鈥
The trip lived up to its promise.
鈥淭he focus was on international business, marketing, and branding,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here were speakers who had built their own start-ups, branding agencies, communications agency gurus. I really appreciated meeting people who started their own businesses from the ground up because I want to start my agency someday. I was taking it all in and connecting with all of them.
鈥淚t was very useful to get an international perspective on how to build a globally-focused company.鈥