The wonderful Dr. Mendez at UT Austin invited me to TA three of her classes (LA 119, MAN 137C, MAN 237D) due to my exceptional mastery of the material in the Global Management Certificate program that she heads.

These three classes were primarily online, as the students were often studying abroad in Paris, Sydney, and other places. The classes also reused materials from when I took them, so little needed to be created for class activities or homework assignments. Therefore, my role was as a supplementary instructor; when students had questions or needed help with their work or logistics and fears while abroad, I was the first point of contact.

I often had to advise students on their situations abroad, based on my own experiences in vastly differing programs. I also had to be an expert on the material of the entire certificate curriculum, as students had specific questions that needed very well-explained answers to perform better. Dr. Mendez repeatedly stated that I was doing an exceptional job, but it was also wonderful to hear personal notes of thanks from the students.

My other task was my official one set by university payroll: I was a grader. This wasn’t simply feeding Scantron sheets through a reader! Each semester of each class (often overlapping, not to mention my own busy schedule) asked every student to write were essentially essays anywhere from 4-10 times. This amounted to hundreds of written responses that I had to assess qualitatively and grade according to a rubric. This could be very objective, so it required not only great knowledge of the material but also many other qualities such as consistency and detail orientation.

I loved it all! Feeling that I had mastered my own work, helping others, getting positive feedback, succeeding at a difficult task, and hearing all of the crazy and meaningful stories from students’ first steps in new countries was all part of an experience that little else in my career thus far could match.

What follows are those awards received not otherwise noted in my posts.

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The University of Texas at Austin

University Honors (3 semesters)

Dean’s List

Rochester Institute of Technology

Computing Medal ($28,000 value)

Presidential Scholarship ($64,000 value)

Honors Program admission

Pace University

Honors Scholarship ($60,000 value)

Honors Opportunity Scholarship ($38,000 value)

Pforzheimer Honors College admission

Syracuse University

Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA)

Other schools attended: Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico City, Queretaro), Vysoka Skola Economicka (Prague), SUNY Oswego (New York), Onondaga Community College (New York)

Much of this class covered the basics that my later work better shows, such as a proper SWOT analysis and how to effectively utilize resources like the Mintel database. We also covered practical use of Qualtrics, and performed analyses of existing advertisements.

I found the goals of this course to be vital to the future of all advertising, so I was saddened to hear it is not necessarily a common curriculum item (much less a mandatory one) nationally. Therefore I have attached my best outputs from the class, to remind myself of their teachings as much as to prove my understanding of them to readers here.

Mini Research Paper on LeanwashingMini Research Paper on Gender RolesMy Team’s Debate Position (with me as author)
“True Story” Assignment

Heuristics Assignment

Background

The capstone of my Bridging Disciplines Program experience was my Connecting Experience, which for Digital Arts & Media students can be fulfilled by a Creative Project. That in turn can be fulfilled for students with an Emphasis in Game Development, by the 3D Game Development Capstone course in which student teams produce and make available for sale a complete 3D video game on 3 platforms.

Ours, built by the members of Team 4 U, is called Railin’ Randy.

Download Links

If you don’t want to look through anything else and just want to see the game, no problem! Go to our itch.io page and enter the password “randy”. Download the suitable Mac, PC, or web file, unzip it, and select the Unity application named “railin-randy”. It’s a very simple process and you’ll be playing our game within minutes. That is easier done if you plug in a controller, but keyboard/mouse works just fine as well.

Website

This–developed by me–covers our development process, some of the background that can be read here, and all of the lore of the game that may not be seen otherwise. That includes concept art, fun facts, and lots of footage of the game in case our links eventually break with browser updates. Please take a look! Railin’ Randy Official Website

Presentations

Bridging Disciplines Program & Office of Undergraduate Research worked together to create a BDP Demo Day during UT’s annual Research Week. I presented in the special Digital Arts & Media room set aside, with this academic poster.

Research Week Academic Poster

Me with my poster and computer demonstration

The team also had an official workplace presentation at Zynga, which went well.

Collage of the class/team 4 at Zynga

Our Presentation (PDF, with trailer and gifs)

We also presented at the SDCT student showcase (formerly Digital Demo Day) at the UT Foundry.

Part of our set-up

UT NSAC 2019 team photo

The American Advertising Federation holds a yearly contest called the National Student Advertising Competition, or NSAC. Only the best collegiate programs sign up, and only their very best and brightest are privileged to attend. UT Austin has a stellar record of attendance, historically sweeping the competition with incredible work from the Stan Richards School of Advertising (the nation’s #1 advertising program). UT took a break for a few years during staff changes, and reentered last year with amazing work that viewers were shocked only made it to national semifinals. Regardless, their efforts changed the competition; every other regular saw what UT could do, and took pages from our book. Quite a few other teams copied our professionalism from last year: keeping off the stage, ignoring the audience of students to present just to the judges, forgoing microphones for a conversational tone, and making beautiful use of supplementary boards rather than just a flashy PowerPoint or song-and-dance routine.

As you can see, we had a lot to live up to this year; and a lot working against us, as the other schools were out for blood and UT keeps the course to a single semester instead of two or three. We still pulled together the best work I’ve possibly been a part of at UT, which is saying a lot. We behaved 100% professional at the district 10 competition in Shreveport, LA even in the face of petty politics. We supported each other as a family, presented like absolute titans of industry, and each did our part to make something great together. Having watched almost every other district 10 presentation, I can without bias say that I think were Wienerschnitzel to take our advice, they would see good returns, if not the best of the lot.

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That said, I would now like to take you–dear reader–through the whole process. First however, this link is for a PDF of the final book we handed to judges. It was a rush job due to having such a shorter timeline than most schools, but I think is still representative of the standard of quality put forth by UT.

CLICK HERE FOR FINAL BOOK

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As always, I was in the account planning department of our in-class agency. Led by our professor Dr. Liza Stavchansky-Lewis, we strove to make our agency as realistic as any “real-world” one. The only thing we really couldn’t replicate was the main job of the account management team, as Wienerschnitzel representatives could not be in constant contact for logistical reasons. Therefore, my department’s work was heaviest in the start of the semester. The rest of our team relied on what insights we could find about our target market through research. We began with secondary, trawling through books on hot dog history and looking up Wienerschnitzel management on social media. We presented initial findings to our class in the following presentation.

Presentation 1

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We were starting to form some thoughts about the Big Idea by this point, but obviously needed to do a lot more work still. So we began a national online survey, sampling some for individual interviews to gather quotes and qualitative insights. The goal was to refine our target, develop a complete profile on them, round out questions the class had gathered for us, and begin honing in on the Big Idea. You can see our process here.

Presentation 2

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A lot of discussions ensued. Our late nights at the student Union were more or less complete, but the age-old struggle of making sure research is understood before acted upon was only just beginning. Finally the entire agency was on board with the target we had chosen, giving them a name and solidifying actionable points as well as condensing all of the statistics we pulled. Below is the creative brief; notably, our joint Big Idea was…

The Craving You Forgot

Essentially, we determined that young semi-professional males (and similar, more specific target segments) who eat fast food a few times a week don’t have any negative perceptions of hot dogs as suggested by the brief provided by Wienerschnitzel. Rather, they forget that hot dogs can be an everyday meal like hamburgers or tacos, not just at summer social events or for children. Indeed, they can even fit our target’s lifestyle better than those options as they are very cheap, very fast, and very customizable. The target just has to remember how much they love them–and we found that a simple reminder was almost always enough. Every interview ended with something like, “wow, I really want a hot dog now!”

Creative Brief

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With those key ideas decided and our department’s work generally complete, the rest of the project went by in a veritable blur. Soon we were gathering our notes for the book, and preparing for the pitch. While I don’t seem to have a copy of the pitch, rest assured it was the best and most impressive professional pitch possible; all four presenters did a wonderful job, and our slides and boards were beautiful.

Notes for Book

I was part of the InDesign team creating the book but again it was very rushed as the rest of the team began working the day before a spring break trip I had had planned for months.

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The competition itself was lovely! We all had a lot of fun, from the Sand Bar to the stage.

This was an incredibly memorable trip that I’m grateful to have been part of. Team 805!

For my ADV 373 class Integrated Communication Campaigns, our class was given nearly free reign for our advertising capstone. We were paired with an actual client, Jane Winchester, and tasked with devising a campaign to increase brand awareness and sales.

We were each interviewed after applying for specific agency departments with our resumes and cover letters. I was placed into Account Planning, and this decision was integral to my development of a continuing career plan.

My department immediately began research, which was later specially commended during our pitch to the client. We worked tirelessly, conducting a 700-respondent survey and a dozen phone interviews in addition to days of online research and report compiling. We–and I in particular as a matter of fact–were integral to the development of both the “Big Idea,” and thus the Creative Brief.

Made for Your Journey

We presented these to the agency at large, gained approval, and went to work on designing the content for a deck that would later become part of the book delivered to our client at the pitch. I in particular also assisted Creative with InDesign work to this goal. Due to our deep understanding of the target, we actually assisted at all stages of the process, often guiding other departments with their deliverables and finding requested data. We each also spoke during the pitch.

Now that our non-disclosure agreement is invalidated due to lapse of time, here are more specific examples of my contributions.

Agency Final Submission

Final Deck

Audio excerpts from the official pitch may be added soon.

Account Planning Presentation on Findings

The Big Idea

Account Planning Creative Brief

Sample of my Primary Research Sample of my Secondary Research

The academic capstone of my study abroad in Czechia was the completion of this report, agonizingly compiled from hours of interviews and weeks of research. The following is my final summary presentation, concerning corporate entrance into the Czech market through the view of Amazon.

After, you will see links for each section of my essay. They are in order, very thoroughly researched, and an interesting look into the economy and social structure of Czechia.

Background Analysis

Economic Analysis

Cultural Analysis

Attitude Survey Report

* Formatting may be off slightly from transfer issues; contact me for complete versions.

 

 

 

Below is a link to Project 1 for a Digital Graphic Communications course in which I used Adobe InDesign. Included are a brochure, postcard, and North Face mock flyer.

Mullins

Below is a link to Project 2 for a Digital Graphic Communications course in which I used Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. All of the photography is my own and includes effects such as levitation and double exposure. The second link is parallax effect.

Mullins

Below is a link to Project 3 for a Digital Graphic Communications course in which I used Adobe Premiere Pro. Here again all of the photography (other than the starter image) is my own.

Study Abroad Process

Scholarships

See the scholarships page here for more information.

Global Management Certificate

See the

Czechia

Žižkov

Fresh off the plane–a 14 hour journey, give or take–we headed straight to our apartment, nearly too tired to take in the billboards in Czech on the way, much less the rough English of our Uber driver. After some rest, we headed back out, eager to explore the new surroundings that would be our home for the next 5 weeks. A cafe across the street was our first stop, and our first experience with the idea that french fries are called chips in more places than England. Lavender lemonade and chocolate cake may have also been involved. Upon revisiting our tiny two-person dorm (with six to a suite, one bathroom, and the smallest kitchen you ever did see), we realized that everyone else who was spending their first day buying floor fans had the right idea. We hailed another Uber and took our first jaunt downtown, to Tesco. It was our first glimpse of the beautiful architecture characteristic of Prague, and of the Vltava river that cuts through the city and lays the foundation for the iconic bridges crossing it. After a disconcerting experience with a store clerk who wanted absolutely nothing to do with us, we headed back to catch up on sleep, knowing it would be important if we were to start school the following Monday with any brainpower left.

Of course, we couldn’t sleep long before heading out Sunday for a more thorough exploration of downtown (little did we know a later tour would cover this). After rehearsing a few key phrases such as “check please” (platit, prosim) and “beer” (pivo), we took our koruny past trdelnik stalls and Bohemian crystal shops to Old Town Square. We whirled by Gothic chapels clawing into the sky, the famous Astronomical clock covered up and under construction, candy stores with barrels full of sweets, Angelato’s, cute crafty stores, and perhaps best of all, a restaurant with great reviews, sparkling beer, and crayfish bisque with lemony tofu.

The aforementioned tour was the next day. Our guide, uncharacteristically peppy and engaging (the tourism industry is still new to Czechia, like their name and EU membership, and heavily influenced by the “national pastime” of complaining), took us back to the square and, starting with a sewer grate showing a sword-in-fist giant hand protecting the historically vulnerable gates of Prague, led us to a great library for refreshments and a view down a mirror-floored well created by books. We took in the city’s long and crazy history, panting up cobblestone hills on the way to St. Charles Bridge. Just before it was the related 135797531 Muzeum, which commemorates the commencement of construction at 5:31am on July 9th, 1357. We gazed in awe through the railing, littered with padlocks with names scratched or drawn onto them, and took in our first view of the majestic Prague Castle. Then we began across, history unfolding before our eyes in the form of the famous statues, with renovated ones shining blindingly gold in the sun and the oldest coated in matte black. We took in the music of entertainers and the art of vendors, rubbed the appropriate statues (worn back down to their original gold to clue us where to touch) with our left hands for luck and wish fulfillment, and carried on to the rich part of town. Unfortunately this rich part of town has a troubled past, with lines drawn horrifyingly high up on buildings to mark the water levels of past floods, and graffiti covering the John Lennon wall. We stopped to explore a church, with a massive golden pipe organ, tall stained glass windows, and the most striking Gothic arches over the roof (we also explored a trdelnik stall). One very taxing walk up an impossible number of stairs later, we were in sight of Prague Castle, and the rest of the city. A side trip took us through the barracks of yore, where tiny cobble alleyways led to almost comically small houses and doorways so short that I had to nearly double over to make my way inside. The day ended with a gorgeous garden at the foot of the hill, populated by pure white peacocks.

Then began school! And as importantly, the cafeteria, with our first real experience with Czech food (rich in meat, potatoes, and gravy; and distinctly lacking in spices).

Soon after was another field trip to another view of the city; more strikingly at that point, an ancient Czech graveyard filled with noble corpses and the bodies of heroes. The jaunt ended with Kingswood Cider at a beer garden, and we went our separate ways; for at least half of us, that way was to Cafe Louvre. Potato gnocchi, sparkling strawberry mint lemonade, and strawberries and cream ice cream filled our stomachs while the modest pricing of high-class food filled our hearts. We took the tram back, comfortable by now with its workings and its free-ness (included with our student package).

Our next class excursion was to Kutna Hora, a neighboring city memorable for the Sedlec Ossuary. There, thousands upon thousands of skeletons were arranged in dark but beautiful sculptures, from a large family crest to ornate goblets to a massive and creative chandelier attended by cherubs. Those whose bones could not be placed in artwork were piled carefully into large caverns adjacent to the main chamber, with one small tunnel near their base where you can look in and quickly see the candlelit humeri fade into pitch black. After we emerged blinking back into sunlight and the land of the living, we explored another old and beautiful chapel, were led on tour, and stopped to disperse for food. Two others and I found a cafe where we sipped clearly unpasteurized milkshakes and ate Czech burgers. While we waited for the rest of our group to return home, we explored souvenir and candy shops, and one ice cream stand with simply incredible citrus flavors.

Our next days were consumed with school: adjusting to classes, our cycle of Czech professors, vending machine coffee, and Czech snacks like the chocolate wafers of Horalky. Before we knew it, my friend and roommate and I were off to London. See below for what that was like!

VSE

London

Ireland

Day 1

Day 2