Same Major,
Different Paths
Some students end up attending the same university as their parents. One Texas Tech University College of Media & Communication student has followed in the footsteps of her parents and grandmother by also majoring in the same field.
Regan Howle (BA Advertising, 2015) is a third-generation advertising student. She said she decided to become an advertising major after realizing the job opportunities that are available to people with advertising degrees. She said she hopes to become a corporate event planner after graduation and said her degree will make her more well-rounded.
“I really like the idea of advertising,” Howle said. “You can be creative and have fun ideas. There are just so many different directions you can go with an advertising degree.”
Kent Lowry, Instructor in the Department of Advertising, taught Advertising Design and Layout to Howle last fall. Lowry said he makes a point to get to know his students throughout the semester, and it was during one conversation with Howle that he found out about her family’s advertising history.
“The interesting thing is Regan’s family members never worked at an advertising agency,” Lowry said. “I think that demonstrates how our advertising program equips you for any white-collar problem solving job. If you can communicate well and think rhetorically to create effective messaging, there are very few jobs that you cannot do and do well.”
Ronda Howle, Regan’s mother, graduated from Texas Tech in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and a minor in Marketing. She said her courses made a good combination because marketing taught her the basics while advertising taught her how to think on her feet and communicate effectively.
“Advertising was just a well-rounded degree,” Ronda said. “I think the knowledge from the textbook was helpful. But the people skills I learned and the new ways to look at things were what I really took with me. I really enjoyed the way my professors taught the material and the ways they got me thinking.”
While an advertising degree provides skills for a variety of positions, Lowry said that there are also many CoMC alumni who find success in advertising. Through his position as faculty adviser for the Tech Advertising Federation, he has seen the success of former students in advertising first-hand through the organization’s annual advertising agency tours.
“It is a nice illustration that an advertising major is about more than just working in the industry,” Lowry said. “But, we do have people with amazingly powerful positions within advertising agencies. On the Tech Advertising Federation Dallas agency tours, every agency we toured was full of Texas Tech advertising graduates. It is astonishing how well represented we are.”
Rusty Howle, Regan’s father, graduated from Texas Tech University in 1988 with an advertising degree and currently works for FedEx. Rusty said he originally became an advertising major due to his interests in business and the creative aspects of advertising.
“I knew I wanted to go into sales,” Rusty said. “My dad worked for 3M and I grew up with an interest in sales. Advertising and sales go hand-in-hand. So, that is the main reason why I decided to major in advertising and I really enjoyed it.”
While not knowing she wanted to major in advertising at a young age, Regan said she always knew she was going to attend Texas Tech University. She said her parents have always been involved with Texas Tech alumni events, even when her family lived in Phoenix.
“I always knew I was going to Tech,” Regan said. “My parents were very involved in the Alumni Association and my father was president of the Phoenix chapter when we lived there. I just grew up a Red Raider.”
Ronda said the family enjoyed living in Phoenix and met some of their best friends there due to having Texas Tech as a common interest. She said seeing a Red Raider fan in Texas is one thing, but seeing a Red Raider fan in Arizona was another.
“When you saw someone in Phoenix with a Texas Tech shirt on,” Ronda said, “you just wanted to run up and hug them. You just have that common ground. We met one of our closest friends in Phoenix because she was wearing a Tech shirt in a mall. It turns out she lived in the same dorm and on the same floor as I did at Texas Tech.”
Carol Reed, Regan’s maternal grandmother, graduated from Texas Tech in 1959 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Advertising and Marketing. Reed said her degree has provided her with a variety of transferrable skills.
“Advertising teaches you how to reach and influence other people,” Reed said. “That can be applied to any other field. Advertising makes you more aware of how to get other people’s attention.”
Reed said her favorite advertising courses during her time at Texas Tech were the design classes. She said she used the skills from those classes when she worked as a graphic designer.
“I had a graphic design business for a while,” Reed said. “I got started when Apple first came out with graphic design programs. Many people wanted to use those programs and services but did not know how. So, I was available to help people with those programs.”
Regan said she realized advertising was for her during one of her first mass communications classes. She said she has always wanted to make a difference with her career, and advertising has the ability to impact consumers, which is one reason why she and her family members decided to major in advertising.
“I took Introduction to Mass Communications with Bill Dean,” Regan said. “I realized that I really care about this field and this stuff is really affecting people. People see mass communications every day and I wanted to be involved in something that matters.” mc
(Preston Redden graduated in 2015 with a Master of Arts degree in Mass Communications and in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. Jay Crain is a senior electronic media and communications major from De Kalb, Texas.)