Distance education student Melissa Espinales was so thrilled to graduate with a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, that she, her parents, and husband all flew here from Texas for the Graduate Hooding Ceremony.
“You’re not going to tell me that I’m not coming, I’m graduating with my master’s!” Espinales exclaimed a few days before the ceremony.
A longtime professional working in graphic design, photography, and marketing, Espinales said she was ready to take the next step in her career—which was earning a master’s degree. She wanted to build on her existing skills but also wanted to add new knowledge to her repertoire; that’s when she found the College of Communication and Information master’s program offering an online strategic and digital communication concentration.
Her undergraduate degree from Texas State University was a double major in communication and design photography. She’s worked for the Air Force Wounded Warrior program and now for Impact Recovery, a company that manufactures high-performance products that protect people and property.
As many creative professionals do, Espinales has worn several hats at jobs throughout the years, including as photographer, videographer, marketer, web designer, and more.
“I’ve always been somebody who’s never stayed in the same industry. At the end of the day, every company needs access to a designer and a marketing person and once I started looking at the world that way, I was able to open a lot of doors,” she said.
But she was ready for more, so she applied to the online program at CCI right before accepting her job at Impact Recovery as their marketing and communications manager. The job and her acceptance into the master’s program aligned perfectly. Courses such as Information Architecture gave her insight into solving problems for the company that she previously didn’t have, which she has found to be invaluable.
“This degree really helped me focus on the other side of my career field that I haven’t had a lot of experience in, and ever since I started getting this degree, it’s gone hand-in-hand with this current position,” she said. “I’ve been able to go back and forth and bring what I’ve learned in class to work, everything from the strategic communications side to the user experience design.”
She was pleased to discover that the program’s online, asynchronous classes were more interactive and engaging than she had anticipated, allowing her to build a small virtual community of students and faculty. While she enjoyed all her courses, she said the three classes she took from Assistant Professor of Practice Tatia Jordan really stood out in the way the courses were built and how Jordan worked with students.
Whether it was meeting with instructors one-on-one, working on group projects, with other students, or lively discussion board posts, Espinales never felt she was alone in her classes. The ability to complete coursework at her own pace was also a boon as her job requires her to travel to trade shows regularly.
“Being able to be 100-percent virtual is the best thing, since I have to travel. I could get homework done beforehand or I knew I could take it on the road. The flexibility in this program has been great,” she said.
Though she initially didn’t know much about UT when she began exploring various master’s programs, she quickly realized that the university is a world-renowned institution. Her pride in being a Volunteer—despite living more than 1,000 miles away from Knoxville—is palpable. She even decided to visit the UT campus for a football game in September 2023 with her father, to get the full Rocky Top experience.
“The University of Texas at San Antonio was playing, and my dad graduated from UTSA with his bachelor’s, so it was a nice rivalry,” she said with a chuckle.
Despite the challenge of adding schoolwork to her life as a busy professional, Espinales said she’s glad she pursued her master’s and thrilled that she decided to do it through UT. What she learned has helped her grow and she anticipates moving into new opportunities at her current employer as she continues utilizing her new skill set.
“Honestly, getting this degree is the best decision I’ve ever made,” she said.
