Maggi's Journey to the MSM Program

In this episode of The Leader Lounge podcast, the focus is on the MSM (Master of Science in Management) program and the Walters Strategic Leadership Center. The guest, Maggi, shares her journey that led her to the program and her experiences as a student. She discusses her academic background, including her double major in journalism and economics, and her passion for working in higher education. Maggi also highlights the unique aspects of the MSM program, such as the opportunity to earn multiple certificates and concentrate in specific areas of interest. She praises the program for its practicality and real-world application, particularly in understanding different work styles and navigating professional environments. The episode showcases the collaborative and interactive nature of the program, challenging preconceived notions of online education.

For more information about the Ohio University MSM Program, click this link!

Check out the Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership program here.

OnBrand Podcast Studios produced this episode. Special thanks to Audio Engineer Alex Winnenberg, Producer Nick Winnenberg, and Marketing Specialist Cori Stokes.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to episode five of the Leader Lounge with the Robert D. Walter Center for Strategic Leadership. I said it right that time.

SPEAKER_00: 0:20

Absolutely. That was,

SPEAKER_01: 0:21

it's a mouthful though. I feel like we need to shorten that before we put on the description. Awesome. And we're here today with Maggie. Maggie, I'm going to butcher your last name. What's, what's your last name?

SPEAKER_03: 0:30

Karagosian.

SPEAKER_01: 0:31

Karagosian. It's

SPEAKER_03: 0:32

Armenian.

SPEAKER_01: 0:32

Armenian. I like it a lot. That's fantastic. And also joined of course by Dr. Amy Taylor Bianco. So this entire podcast is really focused on like the OU experience revolving around the MSM program and then also the Walter Strategic Leadership Center. So can you run me through your journey that got you to this chair today

SPEAKER_03: 0:49

sure um so i am um i'm a bobcat alum i graduated last april

SPEAKER_04: 0:56

oh you oh

SPEAKER_03: 0:56

yeah um oh you oh yeah and um So I started here in 2018. I was a double major, so I was in the Honors Tutorial College in their journalism program. And then halfway through my sophomore year, I took an economics class, and I was like, this is pretty cool. And so then I just added it as a major. And I remember my advisor saying, are you sure you want to add one like this close to grad? Like, you're halfway there. And I was like, yeah, it's cool. Like, why not?

SPEAKER_01: 1:26

I'm here anyway. I know. I'm

SPEAKER_03: 1:27

here. And I was really helpful because I got to tie that into my my thesis for journalism

SPEAKER_04: 1:35

oh cool

SPEAKER_03: 1:36

and I probably wouldn't have been able to figure out how to run all of that regression myself so it was good that I took the classes that taught me how to do it um so that was my education um and while I was here I was a student tour guide all four years um loved it super fun it was uh It was a lot of meeting new people and it was also a lot of learning because I did that through the pandemic.

SPEAKER_01: 2:04

Right.

SPEAKER_03: 2:04

So it was giving campus tours on Zoom, which was really interesting.

SPEAKER_01: 2:08

Is that really a thing you all did?

SPEAKER_03: 2:09

It was a thing. It was like we have a company that does like virtual tours for us and you can click through it almost like Google Maps.

SPEAKER_01: 2:16

Okay, sure.

SPEAKER_03: 2:16

So it was me clicking through it, but then you got to hear my voice over it and then answer all of the questions. I

SPEAKER_01: 2:21

bet that was really fun.

SPEAKER_03: 2:22

It was for the first like two months and then I was like, I want to be back on College Green. Like I want to go walk around. around and really loved higher ed and working in that there's always new people coming in you know it's like there's new students there's new faculty new staff like there's this constant like new group of people to meet and get to know and people who are going to do really great things for the university and I just really loved that environment and so wanted to stay and I I work here now in our Alumni Association and development and I'm in the MS So a lot of OU going through me.

SPEAKER_01: 3:00

Yeah, seriously. Again, I think you made the joke earlier that if you fell and skid your knee, you'd bleed

SPEAKER_03: 3:04

green. Yeah, I would bleed green. Absolutely. Like everywhere.

SPEAKER_01: 3:07

But

SPEAKER_03: 3:07

it's great.

SPEAKER_01: 3:08

That's awesome. Now, why the MSM program?

SPEAKER_03: 3:10

It's a really great question. So I, you know, total transparency had never heard of it. It was, I think when you look at.

UNKNOWN: 3:17

Good job. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: 3:19

When you look at like grad school, you know, if you want to stay in something business, it's usually an MBA or, you know, there were a few. I looked at the master's in higher ed. And then we have the college student personnel degree here as well. Um, and what I really thought was neat about the MSM, I talked to a, um, a football player who was in the program and he was like, oh yeah, I have this certificate and this certificate. And by the time I'm done, I'll have this too. And then I get the full degree and the way that you're like building, whoops, building on it. Um, Right. Right. For what I do professionally, a lot of development and fundraising work is similar to sales. There's things that are the same and things that aren't, but being able to have a sales certificate and focus on that while also having this degree that's teaching about management and working with teams and leading teams and just... different personality styles that you're going to work with, I thought was really cool. So that's what kind of sucked me in.

SPEAKER_01: 4:36

And Dr. B, that was by design, right? When you went and designed that, you were trying to get all those certificates in there.

SPEAKER_00: 4:41

Absolutely. So we were trying to get in different certificates that you could put together to really fill, you know, kind of open job positions. So disparate things, right? Unlike things to put together. So it's not two master's degrees, because we probably don't need two master's degrees, although maybe we do. I mean, I'm telling

SPEAKER_01: 4:58

you now. I'll keep going until somebody stops.

SPEAKER_00: 5:00

Yeah, I know. I hear you. I might be that person. But but the skills that we need usually come from different areas. So it's like walking those boundaries. So you're doing as your certificates, you're in management and leadership now, but then you're doing sales and human resources, human resources. OK, great. And where else could you take the sales and human resources together? Really important. Really great combination. But probably just not offered.

SPEAKER_01: 5:25

No.

SPEAKER_03: 5:26

No. And there are things that you don't think of in terms of your education. I always joked with students when I was a tour guide. I was like, when you're in high school, you're under this impression that you can be a teacher or a doctor or a lawyer and that's it. And then you get to college and you're like, oh, there's so many different things that I can do. You don't realize that you can... be the person who's out there studying criminals and what their thoughts were and doing the psychology of that. Like, people don't realize that that's an option. And when you think of grad school, you don't think, oh, what if I really want to focus on HR? What am I going to do? But having those skills to be able to take into your career is invaluable. It's perfect. So I thought that that was just, I mean, it's something that not a lot of people are going to have, and I get to have that, which is really neat. It's great.

SPEAKER_01: 6:17

For sure. And looking at the, you're two courses in? Is that what I heard earlier?

SPEAKER_03: 6:20

Yeah, two

SPEAKER_01: 6:21

courses. So which have you taken so far? So

SPEAKER_03: 6:22

I took Dr. B's class at the very beginning. So it was... Individuals and teams. Yes, thank you. I was like, it's 5,001. I don't remember the full And then I took, um, 5,003, um, which was with Dr. Chimeli. Yes. I can't remember what, again, there we go. See, this is why I have you two here to fill me in. So much less important than the content. Um, so yeah, two courses and just finished up the last one about a week and a half ago. Um, and, um, they were, I mean, I really enjoyed your class. Like it was, um, So I went to a conference in December, and they had this whole workshop that was for people who were new to the profession. So if you were new to fundraising, alumni relations, whatever, they had it specifically for us. And we varied in ages. There were folks who were fresh out of college. There were folks who made a career change 20 years in. And we took a DISC assessment. And so we were looking at these different– these different ways that people operate in the workplace. And what they ended up doing was splitting us up into our groups.

SPEAKER_01: 7:34

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03: 7:35

I am an ID. So I was at the loud table, um, in the back where everybody was like cheering and having a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01: 7:42

The C's are over in there. The C's are in the corner. And like

SPEAKER_03: 7:45

the S's are just watching. And then the D's, all of their hands shot up and they're looking at each other. Like I want to talk.

SPEAKER_01: 7:52

I'm the spokesperson. I am the main character.

SPEAKER_03: 7:55

Exactly. Right. Um, And that was really neat because I was there with two colleagues and one was a C and one was a D and I was ID. And so we were all different. And as they're going through reading through all of these things, I'm like, yep, that's how that person operates. Like 100%. I get that. And so then when I started your class and we're looking at like, these are how different people operate in these different environments. I was like, whoa it's connecting to the real world like it's coming all the way around and I must have I must have driven my co-workers crazy because I was like last night in class I learned about this and you're doing this today and we talked about like meetings and how we have so many meetings now it's like everybody you know you're on for 30 minutes and you get a 10 minute break and you have another meeting and it's like there's got to be a purpose behind this and I'm reading about it in class and I would love to tell you what my thoughts are so that was really cool

SPEAKER_01: 8:52

that's amazing Now, looking at 5003 then, so that was Finlay's course as well, which you like better. I'm just kidding. So I have to ask, though, because we just talked about this, with the life raft, who did you save? Do you remember? Did you have to do the life raft thing? I

SPEAKER_03: 9:06

did do the life raft thing. I cannot.

SPEAKER_01: 9:09

For the life of you, remember?

SPEAKER_03: 9:10

I want to say I saved the married couple because all I could think of was they had children at home who were going to be orphaned. And I was like, they got to be saved. And then I think I saved the convict who was the only one who knew how

SPEAKER_01: 9:29

to- How to steer the ship. Because

SPEAKER_03: 9:31

otherwise they're all going to drift off and die anyway. So you might as well have somebody who can at least bring you back. And maybe I saved the doctor. And then there was one more-

SPEAKER_01: 9:42

that you saved as well. And it cracks me up because I've done, obviously, so I have three courses left in the MSM program. I've done a lot of homework. I've done a lot of work. I don't think I've spent more time agonizing about something than that one thing. And it's the smallest little Excel document ever, but I'm literally laying in bed at 3 a.m. being like, yeah, but that nurse, she's addicted to drugs, but is that that

SPEAKER_00: 10:02

bad? She can help people. Right, but at

SPEAKER_01: 10:05

the same time, she has the medical experience. There's no drugs on the boat, so she'll be okay. So I'm like, unless she's having issues, I'm like, why am I thinking about this at 3 a.m., right? But it's Challenges your thinking. Right. And that's the entire course is just about challenging your thinking. Yeah. So I know you're not super far into it yet, but what's your MSM experience been like so far overall?

SPEAKER_03: 10:21

I mean, it's been so coming into a program that is that is this kind of virtual. There's some hybrid components, but you're online.

UNKNOWN: 10:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 10:32

Um, I was under the impression that it was like asynchronous. You're not really talking to anybody. Like you log on, you do your work, you turn it in, you call it a day. Um, and both of these classes that I've taken so far have had an, a virtual component where we're actually sitting and talking to each other. Um, and 5003, we had a group project to, to work on and I got to know, um, three of my classmates who i probably wouldn't have talked to otherwise because i'm just not the type of person to send an email and be like if you would ever like to chat about class like happy to do it i i am just kind of like i i just don't do that and so

SPEAKER_01: 11:09

you're a high d personality yeah i

SPEAKER_03: 11:11

know that's what they said at the conference they were like so all of my eyes you guys were super excited for networking right and i was like no i wasn't no the d is like it's not for me um But yeah, so getting to know all of them and what their different experiences... We all have different jobs. We varied in age. There was another Bobcat in there, and her and I overlapped a little bit in undergrad, but we never knew each other. And it was just... That kind of collaboration was not something I thought I was going to get out of this program. I really thought that it was going to be individualized and you're just, you know, working on it yourself. But looking back on it, it makes sense, right? We're talking about teams. We're talking about working with other people. Of course, you're going to have that. You're going to need to have that interaction. And so that's been one of the biggest takeaways for me was just you're meeting people online, like who you've never talked to before, which can kind of sound creepy, but it's like... And then you're just working with them and putting a lot of energy into a project. And I was really proud of the project that we ended up sharing too so it was just it was unexpected but it was I think really beneficial to the learning process overall

SPEAKER_01: 12:30

nice now I know you picked up what's your two certificates again

SPEAKER_03: 12:32

so sales and HR

SPEAKER_01: 12:35

why'd you pick those

SPEAKER_03: 12:36

so I picked sales because of my job I thought that it made sense to at least have somewhat of that foundation I wasn't in the shea as an undergrad my brother is in the shea right now and he has all the cool sweatshirts and I'll have to steal one from him at some point just pretend. Um, but I thought that that would be really beneficial. And then what I ended up doing, um, as I was going through to pick, um, to pick my other one, I talked to my supervisor and was like, okay, if you are looking at a job application, what would you want to see on, on, you know, a resume? Um, and talked to quite a few people at work. And I think that, um, So like data, data is not my strong suit. I am more of a calculus girly than a statistics girly. So I didn't want to jump into crunching a lot of numbers and, and analyzing all of that. Um, and as I, as I talked to more people and kind of narrowed it down, I was like, okay, HR, I think having a foundation in that and just being able to understand it at a basic level and then go forward from there is, is extremely helpful in a career. You're never not going to deal with HR.

SPEAKER_01: 13:48

You're never knocking the old

SPEAKER_03: 13:49

people. They are always there. I've served on search committees at work and being able to... I haven't taken an HR class yet, but being able to learn about that hands-on, here are the questions you can ask in interviews. Here's what you should be doing to make sure that it's a blind process and you're evaluating everybody equally. I think that it will translate really well into those courses and certificate because... you can cross education and career and see how you can apply that.

SPEAKER_01: 14:21

Like,

SPEAKER_03: 14:22

um, Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 14:24

It's huge. And Dr. B, what kind of questions do you got?

SPEAKER_00: 14:26

I'm excited for you to do the HR certificate because I think it's going to be interesting. It's really strategic HR. So it's people that all have 20 to 25 years of work experience that are teaching and just came back to be professors. So I'm really curious, too, to see what you see as the relationship with HR and sales. But you mentioned some of the most surprising things about the program before and that interaction. Was that a good surprise? Or was that a not like how did you how did you feel about that? Because you could write not go like and just you could just do your thing and get through the program. Right. Or you could create those relationships and go to those things. So how did it? Let it play out for you.

SPEAKER_03: 15:09

So your class having the Wednesday night meetings, it worked pretty well for my schedule. I'm done at work at 5. I go home, I eat dinner, and I log on for class. And it was great. The class that I just wrapped up, we did the same thing. So we had that 7 o'clock class. But we had the group project. And by some unlucky draw, it was myself and one of my classmates is outside of Cleveland. And then one of them is in Texas. So she's in central time. And one of them is in New Mexico. So he's in mountain time. Talk about like schedule chaos. Because the ones who are in Texas and New Mexico, they work 10 hour shifts. And so they're, I mean, they were both off on Fridays, which was really helpful for getting everybody together. But that meant I was logging on at like 830 at night because that's when it actually lined up. I'm not going to say I was thrilled about that. That was not the most exciting part um but as we got through the project and you get through the awkward like small talk phases of trying to somewhat get to know each other and then working um It was a lot easier because you're like, oh, no, I get to talk to Aaron and Allie and Deborah tonight about this project that we're working on and pulling it all together. So it was a surprise. And at first, I was like, oh, you've got to be kidding me. We couldn't have all plugged in zip codes before we ran all of this together. But then once you start to get into it, it was fun. And like I said, I was really proud of the project that we did. And I don't think it would have– it definitely would have been a different experience with other– group members because we so the project that we did was our decision was to keep a rental property or to sell it and it was just you know you're talking about a real life scenario and And it was based on one of my classmates' former experiences with selling a house. We get into these presentations and I have classmates who are talking about like, the COO made this decision and the plant blew up and 24 people died. Would you have made the same decision? And I was like, we could have gone way further with this. Really had some sort of surprise effect. But yeah, they were a great group.

SPEAKER_01: 17:27

And I think it's really interesting because I remember that the first breakout we did was the toast conversation. I think that was like literally episode one. And you put me with Jason or the algorithm put me with Jason Radcliffe and Molly? She's under her. Yeah. Okay, cool. So with Molly and one small group together too. And we bonded like in the five-minute breakout we have. And we got a text chat on our phones. And it's live to this day. Wow. But again, it's less focused, more gossipy now about each other's life. But you can form relationships. And for me, I think that was the most surprising thing about the MSM program is I, like you, was like, okay, online class, log on, do the work, log off. Right. But the more that I got involved with it, the more I heard other people talk, and I just sent them a message on Teams or whatever, and then suddenly you start to build these relationships. And I was really surprised about how you can build relationships virtually, and that was a huge wake-up call for me because I was like, I did not get involved with this to make friends, but I did very quickly. It's very interesting. Any other things you want to hit on? I know you've got less than a minute.

SPEAKER_00: 18:32

Yeah. What would you tell somebody who's trying to decide whether this program is for them? We're talking to them about the program, and they're just trying to decide whether to do it or not? What would you have them think about or what would you tell them about your experience?

SPEAKER_03: 18:47

That's a good question. I think one of the things I always did as a tour guide was I would go to the online catalog where it's like, this is the degree program you're in. Here's every class you're going to have to take. Here's what your electives are. For me, that was really helpful because I can go, okay, this is what I'm going to be actually working with every semester. You know, you think of the MSM, and if you just read the word management, you're not getting the gist of what the program is. Like, that's very overarching. It sums it all up, but that's not the specifics. We need management to be like an acronym for something. I think then it would really, but then it would be the M-S-M-A-N, and then, you know, people wouldn't really get too far into that.

SPEAKER_01: 19:34

What's your degree at M-S-M-A-N-G? Right, like,

SPEAKER_03: 19:38

it'd be like, what is that? I don't It's a long story. But actually sitting down and looking at the classes and saying, is this something that's going to be interesting for me as I work through the program? You want to have things where it piques your interest and you can say, okay, taking that class I think is going to be really fun and it will apply to X component. If you're a psychology major in undergrad, then 5003 is probably going to be a really cool class for you.

UNKNOWN: 20:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03: 20:07

Right. Yeah. not. So talking to people who are experiencing it is probably a really great way to...

SPEAKER_01: 20:42

Or listen to a podcast. Or listen to a podcast. Just saying a pretty cool podcast. I think we just came up

SPEAKER_03: 20:46

with your advertisement

SPEAKER_01: 20:47

for the podcast. I think we did. We're just going to go and mic drop there. We'll

SPEAKER_03: 20:49

just snippet that. Perfect. Okay, great. Do

SPEAKER_01: 20:51

you have anything else you want to share about your experience or anything else with OU?

SPEAKER_03: 20:55

I don't know. Can I just drop a Go Bobcats and we'll

SPEAKER_01: 21:00

call that after? Absolutely. OU, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 21:02

OU, oh yeah. It's wonderful.

UNKNOWN: 0:00

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