TCNJ Senior and Eatontown Resident Michelle Futerfas Gears Up for Exciting Future

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EWING, NJ (05/07/2013)(readMedia)-- On college campuses nationwide, the month of May is dedicated to seniors celebrating the end of their academic careers, saying goodbye to textbooks and homework assignments, and shaking the hands of their future bosses. Michelle Futerfas is among those celebrating--but for very different reasons. Futerfas recently competed against many exceptionally talented and bright students nationwide to land a coveted spot in a top graduate program in her field.

Futerfas, a top Communication Studies major with an interdisciplinary concentration in Health Communication and minors in Professional Writing and Marketing, will pursue a PhD in Health Communication at the University of Maryland beginning in August 2013. Being directly accepted into a Ph.D. program is exceedingly rare, and Futerfas is one of only a few students from the department in the past twenty years to do so. In addition to her doctoral coursework, Futerfas will be responsible for teaching two undergraduate introductory courses to incoming students in communication studies.

"It's surreal," Futerfas beams. "I'm in shock. Thrilled and excited, but in shock."

The process was daunting, the application tedious, and the statement of purpose intense. Once submitted, she then had a lengthy phone interview with the department chair.

"I was nervous, but confident," Futerfas admits. "I knew this was my dream and had to prove it in the interview."

Her hard work paid off. She was contacted almost immediately with a fully funded offer for admittance to the doctoral program.

"I was speechless," she laughed. "My jaw dropped. I was with my friends and just couldn't believe it!"

Futerfas' interest in health communication first began when she took a Theories of Persuasion course, led by Professor Gary Woodward. Her work there inspired her to take Health Communication Campaigns, a class led by Professor Katherine Margolis, which expanded her knowledge of the field and pushed her to think outside the box. Margolis was impressed with her work and offered her an internship at HealthEd, a healthcare marketing agency focusing on Direct To Patient marketing and education, which Futerfas eagerly accepted. There, she worked on a variety of projects for major pharmaceutical companies and focused her time on a project for patients diagnosed with the Hepatitis C virus. It was this work that most prompted her decision to pursue her PhD.

When asked about her time at TCNJ, Futerfas replied eagerly, "The experiences and opportunities I had at The College of New Jersey shaped my career path. I look forward to one day becoming a professor and inspiring students as I was here at TCNJ."