JP Matychak never planned to be a college administrator, and he says nobody grows up wanting to be one. He got hooked on leadership through student government, earned a master's and a doctorate in higher education leadership, and spent about 10 years in career services at the University of Pittsburgh before moving to Boston University's Questrom School of Business. There he went from career services to associate dean for student affairs to associate dean for strategic initiatives, reporting to the dean and overseeing strategic communications.
When this episode of The PR Bunker Podcast was recorded in early 2021, Don's agency was working with Questrom on Insights@Questrom, which had launched a few months earlier. JP and Don talk about how a business school that's more than a century old can act like its own media outlet and what that does for the brand.
A few takeaways from the conversation:
Business faculty mostly do applied research, but people in industry don't read academic journals or go to academic conferences. Dean Susan Fournier dreamed up Insights to bring that research to the everyday problems business leaders face. It includes articles and live events anyone in the world can join, for audiences from academics and executives to alumni and students. JP said it clicked for him when a faculty member explained the statistics behind Pfizer's vaccine efficacy results in plain terms.
JP's pitch to faculty is that Insights isn't a refereed journal. They've spent years studying their field, so they can give a quick, informed take in 500 or 600 words. That makes taking part realistic for busy people. Don, who has long argued that brands should act as their own New York Times, says he uses a similar pitch and tells faculty that podcasts and articles are just another form of teaching.
Content marketing takes a lot of work, so Questrom built a platform that does several jobs at once. The same articles that share research can be repurposed for prospective students based on what they care about, like a piece by Marshall Van Alstyne on going after the liars and not just the lies on social media. JP said the next step was to act more like a newsroom, getting the school's take out fast when a big business story breaks, and to add a section on the future of business education.
At the time Questrom had also launched an online MBA that beat its enrollment targets. Insights@Questrom lives at insights.bu.edu, and JP said he's always happy to network with people, and to grab a guitar and jam with faculty colleagues.
Listen to the full episode above.
Reading is the hello. SBGA is where we get to yes.
What is Insights@Questrom?
It's a multimedia platform from Boston University's Questrom School of Business that turns faculty research into articles and live events on everyday business challenges, open to anyone.
How do you get busy faculty to create content?
JP Matychak frames it as a quick expert reaction rather than a peer-reviewed paper, asking for 500 or 600 words on a topic they already know well.
Why should a brand act like a media outlet?
Don Martelli argues that with mainstream media focused on a handful of big stories, brands that publish their own useful content can reach audiences directly and serve several goals at once, from enrollment to alumni engagement and partnerships.
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