“These are real-world courses, and it helps us, as faculty members, to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening in industry while helping prepare students,” Ahern said. “By using real-world tools like Google Ads, students are witnessing how leading tech companies are rolling out AI functionality in real time.

“Especially with AI the last couple of years, students are looking for ways to make it clear that they’re up to date in a fast-changing marketplace,” Ahern added. “With the minor, the fact that they’re able to add more skills and certifications to their toolbox is obviously appealing.”

Students in Ahern’s capstone campaigns course get hands-on experience using real-world platforms, including Google Ads, Google Analytics and the Swipe Pages landing page builder. The course also exposes students to key digital marketing tools like Google Trends, Google Rich Results Test and URL builders.

“The skills students develop using these tools, and understanding their strategic importance, position them to navigate and innovate in the modern digital media marketplace,” said Fuyuan Shen, professor and head of the Department of Advertising/Public Relations. “Prof. Ahern’s leadership of coordinator of the minor has been instrumental to the success of the DMTA minor.”

Impact and support

As digital platforms have altered the dominance of traditional platforms, the DMTA minor serves more than just advertising or communications students. In addition, better understanding AI can enhance creative development and inform both strategy and transactional efforts in almost any discipline.

The minor offers foundational theories and tools that can help combine AI and communication into modern practice.

Rather than teaching AI as a side topic, the DMTA minor positions AI as the connective tissue of digital advertising education. Students are exposed to:

  • AI-assisted keyword and audience generation
  • automated campaign optimization features
  • generative-AI display and text ad creative tools
  • data-driven decision modeling inside analytics platforms
  • ethical considerations in algorithmically mediated advertising

Students don’t just learn AI — they build campaigns with it, evaluate its results, and critique its outputs with guidance from experienced faculty. In a field where creative intuition and machine-assisted precision must coexist, this balance helps prepare a workforce ready for what agencies increasingly expect on day one.

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