Student organization snapshot.

Want to meet people—students and successful professionals—who share your interests and can help you get ahead? Need to add some great experiences to your resume? Have a desire to perfect skills, including leadership and teambuilding?

Student organizations in the College of Business Administration give you all this and more. You can do a little, such as attend meetings, or a lot, such as become a committee chair or officer. It’s your call.

In each issue of BizBuzz, we showcase a student organization so you can see which one is right for you.

Award-winning American Marketing Association chapter prepares future marketing professionals for career success.

A number of members of the College’s American Marketing Association (AMA) chapter were on hand to learn that the chapter had been named “Collegiate Chapter of the Year.” The award was made at the 28th Annual International Collegiate Conference in Orlando, FL.

Two years ago, Melissa Saliba, who works part time as an assistant to a financial advisor at Ameriprise International, didn’t know what marketing was. Now, she is the president of the college’s chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA).

“I liked the first marketing class I took, but I found it hard to keep in touch with the people I met since we changed classes,” she said. “My initial motivation for joining AMA was to meet people with similar interests and have the friendships continue.”

She got that, and much more.

“I started by attending meetings, which take place every other week. Then I attended a few events, and then the national conference in New Orleans,” she said. “That’s when I really started to get involved.”

Each involvement brought benefits. For example, when she was in charge of professional development last year, she got to invite speakers, get them a gift, and meet them before the meeting at which they spoke.

“At almost every meeting, we have a speaker, and they usually are interested in recruiting,” she said. “Many members have found out about jobs, or even gotten jobs, in this way.”

As an officer, Saliba enjoys the additional benefit of serving on the Business Student Council (BSC), where she gets to know the leaders of other student organizations as well as college leaders. Recently, members of the BSC attended a BBQ at the home of Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam.

“I got to talk to Dean Elam on an informal basis, person-to-person,” she said.

The organization also helps students clarify their career objectives.

“Looking for a job is like dating. We help members look beyond salaries to discover what they want and don’t want in a job,” Saliba said. “We also can act as a pacifier during the pressure-filled time of job searches. We help our members understand that everything will be all right: that they have good credentials and that companies are looking for them.”

Events enable students to develop skills and contacts.

Saliba feels that AMA has taught her about leadership, knowledge she will put to use within a company in the future.

“I’ve learned how to deal with people who have different types of personalities, figuring out how to take their ideas and make them work,” she said.

Maria Glenny, a part-time employee on the public relations side of her father’s business, joined AMA because she knew it would look good on her resume. Now, as vice president, she juggles her commitments to the organization with her school and work responsibilities. She thinks it’s well worth it.

“We participated in a marketing event on campus for the Florida Army National Guard, doing promotions, research, public relations, and budgeting,” she said. “This sort of experience looks very impressive at an interview or on a resume.”

Like Saliba, she appreciates the contacts she has made.

“We have a friendship with our advisor, Tim Dugan Birrittella, lecturer in the Marketing Department; I met the dean at the BBQ; and we have met Peter Dickson, chair of the Marketing Department,” she said. “These are people who can help us in many ways.”

In addition to networking with professionals, networking takes place among members.

“If you need a book, you often can get it from someone else in the chapter,” Saliba said. “Or, if you want insights on a professor, you can ask another member. We study together and share notes to help each other do well in classes. AMA makes the university smaller.”

Chapter currently holds honor as “Collegiate Chapter of the Year.”

At the AMA’s 28th Annual International Collegiate Conference, the college’s chapter was named “Collegiate Chapter of the Year.” It triumphed over 300 chapters nationwide, many of them active for years, whereas the college’s chapter had been dormant for a while.

“They achieved a tremendous amount,” Birritella said. “They successfully conducted more than 26 professional development programs, completed ten community service projects, raised more than $11,000 to subsidize the Collegiate Conference for twenty members, maintained an overall student membership of 125 students, and increased chapter awareness. It’s a testament to student involvement that the chapter won this prestigious award.”

Take the next step.

If you’d like to get involved, check the student events calendar for meeting information and plan to attend. Also, send an email to fiu_ama@yahoo.com to get on the organization’s mailing list. The fee to join is $45, which includes $39 for the national chapter. Being a member of the national chapter makes it possible for you to attend the national conference and to get a quarterly marketing newsletter with great information and a section on jobs. Dues for the college’s chapter are a mere $6, which includes a t-shirt.