In what Indiana University is calling a first-of-its-kind collaboration, the Kelley School of Business and The Media School will launch a marketing and communications firm to provide students paid, professional experience working with actual clients.
Called the IU K+M Collective, the consultancy firm will offer research, strategy, marketing and communications services to companies and nonprofit organizations, the university said. The firm will launch this fall with about 20 students.
“Initiatives like the K+M Collective reflect our ongoing commitment to expanding experiential learning opportunities for students,” IU Bloomington Provost Rahul Shrivastav said in a news release. “They add another exciting way for students to apply what they’re learning in meaningful, real-world contexts.”
Nancy Paton, teaching professor of marketing at Kelley and former IU vice president and chief communications and marketing officer, will lead the consultancy as its founder and executive director.
Before the students begin working with clients, they will complete a faculty-taught seminar series to prepare them as consultants. Students will be able to continue working on a project as it evolves over more than one semester and perhaps even after graduation if their work leads to employment, the release said.
Client projects are scheduled for spring 2026.
“This firm will create a knowledge base of talented thinkers and doers who will collectively harness their skills to provide strategy, research, marketing and communications expertise and services, creating unique solutions that accelerate client success,” said Paton, was previously served as a chief communications and marketing executive at the University of Florida and at the University at Buffalo.
“Through this experience, students will emerge uniquely and strongly positioned to jump-start their careers.”