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Northern Illinois University

NIU Office of Public Affairs


News Release

Contact: Joe King, Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-4299

Sept. 22, 2004

Trump gives an 'A' to NIU Marketing Apprentice Class

DEKALB, Ill -- Donald Trump has developed an international reputation as a shrewd businessman with a sharp eye for hot properties, and the one he is touting this week is the Marketing Apprentice course at Northern Illinois University.

Trump featured the class Monday, Sept. 20, in a 90-second radio spot on his daily radio show “Trumped!” Produced by Premier Radio Networks and aired on nearly 300 Clear Channel Communications radio stations nationwide, the show features the wit and wisdom of Trump on a daily basis.

The commentary can be found online at: http://www.niu.edu/pubaffairs/audio/trump.mp3

In the piece, the man who has become famous to television viewers for gruffly dismissing those who displease him is liberal in his praise of the university and the course.

“Northern Illinois is really doing a terrific job, I hear it’s a hot school,” the Donald tells his listeners.

Trump even wished aloud that he had a chance to get in on the action.

“I want to hand it to Northern Illinois University’s College of Business,” he says. “They are just a little bit ahead of the pack. If I were 20 years old again, I’d be in that class."

That was thrilling praise to the Marketing Department faculty who assembled the course after a couple of students floated the idea late last spring.

The class closely follows the format of “The Apprentice” television show. The teams of students compete in a variety of business-related tasks and players are eliminated each week. The ultimate prize is $1,000 scholarships to be awarded to the top four finalists. Members of the second place team will each receive $500 scholarships.

Also benefiting from the class are teams of Communication majors who are filming the activities of the Marketing students. The videos they create each week are posted on the World Wide Web, aired on the campus cable television channel and used to help evaluate the efforts of each team.

The students recently completed work on a task that required them to raise money to purchase care packages for soldiers in Iraq. By soliciting donations from businesses and holding a variety of fundraising activities, the students raised nearly $12,000.

In his radio piece, Trump talks about the value of his television show as a medium to teach students skills such as understanding their client and the value of teamwork. Professors at NIU say it has taught those lessons, and much more.

“It has been a tremendous learning tool,” says Chair of the Marketing Department Denise Schoenbachler. “It is forcing students to put together all of their business principles in a much more realistic way than you could ever do in a classroom.”

Professor Laura Vazquez, who teaches media production, is equally thrilled with the experience the class is affording to her Communication students.

“Their videos have been fantastic,” she says. “They are learning a lot about field production aspects that we don’t always get to cover in class, and a whole lot about making ethical representations of people, which is tough to teach. It’s been great.”

The class is a one-credit, independent study course. It will wrap up on Oct. 4, when the eight remaining students will turn in their final assignment, a complex, comprehensive marketing task. At that time they will learn who wins the scholarships.

A complete press kit with details of the class can be found online at: http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2004/sept/apprentice.shtml

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