Theory, research, production work, and teaching experience – a winning combination Jeremy McCool found in the doctoral program in the Department of Communications Media at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
It propelled him from a graduate student at IUP to a professor at West Chester University.
"IUP really gave me a chance to be able to teach for the first time and really learn that that was a gift of mine, and a passion, and something that I kind of wanted to do long-term," said McCool.
Now, as an assistant professor of digital and global media, he teaches media technology, public speaking, and digital story telling.
Digital story telling was a class he originally created while at IUP. It came from his interest in teaching students about media entrepreneurship, which he didn't feel a lot of communications and media programs were addressing.
"I see the future of podcasting growing at a just ridiculous rate," he said, adding that YouTube was growing in a similar way.
"I was able to do theory and research, along with doing some production work, which was great. IUP really gave me a chance to be able to teach for the first time and really learn that that was a gift of mine and a passion and something that I kind of wanted to do long term."
– Jeremy McCool
He wanted to help students be able to create their own platforms.
"I think my purpose is to inspire other people ... to really inspire the next generation to do the same, to really go for their goals," he said.
McCool knows how powerful an inspiring mentor can be.
"Having a mentor is extremely crucial in your journey, no matter what you are trying to do. What brought me to IUP is my mentor, Jack Thomas. He's currently the president of Central State University (in Wilberforce, Ohio). He ended up getting his doctorate from IUP. He's one of the people who really inspired me."
After hearing about IUP from Thomas, McCool looked into the PhD program in the Department of Communications Media.
"(IUP) gave me a chance to teach, to be able to create my own course, and to really be able to navigate through where I wanted to be long-term, as far as in education, in higher education specifically and in media," he said.
"It really just gave me a chance to really be able to tap into my own talents and my own gifts and be able to utilize that to help other people. So that was really my journey at IUP."