In this episode, Provost Kimberly D. McCorkle talks with Dr. Melanie B. Richards, interim director of ETSU’s new School of Marketing and Media, about how her experience in the corporate world led to a career in academia – and how she is harnessing that experience to make sure her students get hands-on, project-based learning opportunities in her classroom. Dr. Richards also discusses how she incorporates AI in her instruction and recommends a book that she has used to guide her research and teaching in this area: Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick.Listen to more episodes of Why I Teach, where Dr. Kimberly D. McCorkle explores stories of impact and success of ETSU faculty. Subscribe at https://why-i-teach-conversation-with-etsu-faculty.podbean.com/.Dr. Richards’ Bio: https://www.etsu.edu/cbat/media-communication/facstaff/richardsm.php ETSU’s Master of Arts in Brand and Media Strategy: https://www.etsu.edu/cbat/media-communication/academics/graduate-programs/brand-strategy.phpSchool of Marketing and Media News: https://www.etsu.edu/etsu-news/schools/marketing-media.php/ETSU’s Approach to Community-Engaged Learning: https://www.etsu.edu/teaching/teaching_community/cel_qep.php Transcript: Dr. Melanie B. RichardsI hope that students leave my classroom with technical skills, critical thought ability, problem-solving, and creativity in how they approach problems, and that ability to make ethical decisions. But beyond that, I really hope that my students know that I care about them.Provost Kimberly D. McCorkleHi. I'm Kimberly McCorkle, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at East Tennessee State University. From the moment I arrived on this campus, I have been inspired by our faculty, their passion for what they do, their belief in the power of higher education, and the way they are transforming the lives of their students. This podcast is dedicated to them: our incredible faculty at ETSU. Hear their stories as they tell us "Why I Teach."In this episode, we will talk with Dr. Melanie B. Richards. Dr. Richards is an associate professor in the ETSU Department of Media and Communications Brand Communication program. This fall, she was appointed interim director of ETSU's new School of Marketing and Media. She also serves as the graduate program coordinator for the Master of Arts in Brand Media Strategy.She's been working in the research, analytics, and account planning world for over 20 years, and prior to ETSU, spent the majority of her career working for both Fortune 500 companies and major nonprofit organizations in various marketing leadership roles. Her academic research primarily focuses on brand experience, particularly regarding the intersection of AI and other new technologies, and on the scholarship of teaching and learning. She's the co-author of the department's published Experiential Approach to Teaching and Student Learning: The Applied Marketing and Media Education Norm. She's also published a breadth of research regarding cost-based communication, public health communication, and intergenerational communication and dynamics in the workplace. Enjoy the show.Dr. Richards, welcome to the show.I start my podcast with the same question for every guest. Take me back to your first day of teaching at ETSU as a faculty member, and looking back on that day, what is one piece of advice that you would have given yourself?Dr. Melanie B. RichardsWell, first of all, thank you for having me, Provost McCorkle. I'm really excited about this opportunity to share my experiences and kind of what I've learned over the time that I've been here at ETSU. So when I reflect back on my first day at ETSU about eight and a half years ago, I remember feeling a great sense of imposter syndrome.At the time, I had had a generous amount of industry experience. I had led teams in the workforce, but teaching felt like a very different kind of challenge. And I knew that I didn't have th