In May 2015, Dr. Harrison and Prof. Bukstein selected two students (one undergraduate student and one graduate student) to fly to Minnesota and shadow executives at the Minnesota Vikings for a week. Marcus McNutt was selected to represent the undergraduate program for this exciting practical learning and professional development opportunity. Here is Marcus’ account of his learning experience with the Minnesota Vikings:
“This trip to Minnesota to work with the Vikings has been a remarkable experience for me and I am thrilled to have been chosen to participate in this. I was able to see what goes on behind the closed doors of a professional organization. Shadowing the Minnesota Vikings has taught me that there is quite a bit of preparation that goes into planning and constructing a new stadium. From selecting artwork to be displayed to negotiating contracts with potential founding sponsors and naming rights agreements, there is an enormous amount of work that needs to be done in order to prepare for the opening of a new stadium. On top of building a new stadium the Minnesota Vikings are working on rebranding the team to be more modern as compared to the more traditional approach of the rival Green Bay Packers. There are a lot of pieces that collectively make up the Minnesota Vikings and I was able to see the different pieces come tougher on this trip. Some of the departments I shadowed with the Vikings were the Legal Department, the Marketing Department and the Operations Department.”