MANDI LINDNER

Second Year Journalism, MA (Journalism) with certificate in digital storytelling

Digital storytelling is an exciting new field with many possibilities. I became interested in this area after graduating with a bachelor’s degree, while I worked as a missionary in Hungary. During that time I created a website, blog and printed newsletter for friends and family back home. I really enjoyed this integrated approach to sharing my experiences in the field and helping to teach others about this culture in which I was living and working.

After I returned to the U.S., I worked in corporate marketing and non-profit community relations. I found that certain elements of storytelling are shared across each of these fields.

While working at a local non-profit, I decided it was a good time to go back to school for my Master's degree. Marquette was the best fit for me of all the communications and journalism programs in the area. The journalism program at Marquette is more hands-on and the digital storytelling opportunity really appealed to me because it's the way the industry is going in the future, and the learning objectives in this program are really tailored to what the individual is interested to learn.

Several people have been very helpful resources during my time as a student here.
Dr. Wolburg is fantastic and enthusiastic about helping me attain my goals at Marquette. She is always ready to help graduate students with their questions, and is an excellent resource for new students. Carole Burns, the director for the Wakerly Technology Training Center, has also helped me a lot in my coursework for digital storytelling. She is extremely knowledgeable, and helped me learn Adobe Flash for a summer internship.

I've really enjoyed my time at here at Marquette. I don't know if this is true at other universities, but graduate students and professors seem to have a special working relationship. I've always been encouraged in my research interests, and treated as if my opinion and past experience is valuable.

Most of the jobs I’ve seen now require technical skills that I’m learning in this program. Digital storytelling is applicable for any anyone studying in the communication disciplines and well beyond.