Professor Gary Wilcox selected as the Outstanding Graduate Adviser

The Graduate School announced on May 18th the Outstanding Graduate Adviser Award for 2005-2006 recipient was Gary Wilcox. The award recognizes the exemplary service of one of the Graduate Advisers from UT Austin.

Dr. Wilcox has served as Graduate Adviser on two separate occasions -- from 1986 to 1990 and from 1998 to present. Between his two terms as graduate adviser, Professor Wilcox served as Department Chairman.

"The award is a great honor for me. I truly enjoy working with graduate students in our MA and PHD programs. Many have become friends over the years and we communicate on a regular basis."

"I would also like to recognize Ms. Virginia Hueske, the program's graduate coordinator for her tireless work. Virginia has been essential to the growth and development of our graduate programs."

Wilcox feels that UT Austin draws the cream of the crop of undergraduate students into their graduate program. As an example, he notes the Select Admission program available to current UT undergraduate students. "This program allows us to admit the strongest of UT's undergraduate students in our MA program and permits them to take graduate coursework while they are finishing their undergraduate degree." As evidence of the quality of these students, Wilcox notes their select admission applicants average GPA of 3.89.

The number of enrollment applications for the Department's graduate MA program has increased 25% over the last 5 years while enrollment in the program over the same period has doubled. Fall 2006 graduate enrollment figures are expected to reach 230 students. In 2005-2006, graduate students received more than $115,000 of scholarship and fellowship support.

Professor Wilcox has also been active in the recruitment of minority students in the program. With the help of funding from the Graduate School and programs such as the AAAAs Diversity programs, almost one-fourth of the students enrolled in the graduate program were minority during Fall 2005. The program also is internationally recognized with 15% of the 2005 incoming students from countries such as Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand, and Turkey.

Wilcox notes that one of the key strengths of the MA program is its flexibility by allowing students to specialize in areas such as Texas Creative, Texas Media, or Account Planning. A student can take elective and minor coursework that allows them to focus on their interests. With the breadth and depth of courses at UT Austin, there is almost no end to the possibilities.

"Recently we have seen many students interested in new technologies and their application to advertising and public relations." Wilcox notes as an example Jamie Onorofski now at Starcom IP. Jamie was a 2003 graduate of the MA program in Advertising where she completed her Professional Report on Advertising and Digital Consumer Technologies. Her PR provided an overview of emerging technological devices that have been designed specifically for personal consumer use -- wireless phones, personal digital assistants and Global Positioning Systems. She credits her PR with helping give her the "edge" she needed in today's marketplace.

6/2/2006