Experience Design and Management News 

When the Great Recession in 2008 caused his startup real estate company to fold, Case Lawrence thought he knew what failure was. Years later, however, the COVID-19 pandemic put his trampoline park company on the verge of another business failure. As a mentor with the Rollins Center at BYU Marriott, Lawrence uses his experiences with failure to help young entrepreneurs be better equipped for the road ahead.

Roaming the streets of Provo, you can find all sorts of places promising exciting experiences: candle-making shops, hatchet-throwing companies, escape rooms, and soda shops. A new class offered by the experience design and management (ExDM) program at the BYU Marriott School of Business—ExDM 490R: Current Trends and Opportunities in the Experience Economy—dives into why these experiential businesses often find success.

When Camilla Hodge graduated from BYU with a degree in communications, she never imagined she would return to the university 14 years later as a professor. Hodge's life has been characterized by meaningful connections, including those that led to her career change and new teaching position at BYU Marriott.

The Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business welcomes nine new professors this fall.

After graduating from the BYU Marriott School of Business in 2013 with a degree in recreation management, Miranda Oliver started working as a wedding planner, which she thought was her dream job. However, after a few years, she realized she wanted something different. Oliver used her knowledge of experience design, which she gained during her undergrad at BYU Marriott, to successfully transition to a career in human resources.

Completing an internship is a graduation requirement for the experience design and management program (ExDM) in the BYU Marriott School of Business. Because of the importance of these positions, the ExDM program helps its students—including seniors Andrew Manger, Melissa Jensen, and Madeleine Pitcher—to be prepared for their internships beyond just checking off a requirement.

While attending a freshman career exploration class, Brooke Taylor was searching for a major in a friendly community that would also develop her personal skills. The current BYU Marriott School of Business senior discovered the experience design and management program through that class and now strives to create and support communities as she uplifts herself and others.

When experience design and management (ExDM) alumna Katie Allred started studying at the BYU Marriott School of Business, she knew she wanted to own and create her own business someday. With strength and determination, she has accomplished what she set out to do. Allred believes BYU Marriott prepared her for her current role as director of her nonprofit company, Pivot Adventure, a unique eight-week resiliency training course that helps students develop skills to navigate life's challenges.

A unique course offered at BYU Marriott is helping to teach students about the importance of diversity and inclusion.

Becoming a fly fisherman takes time and practice. Professional fly fisherman Ramon Zabriskie might also propose that applying diversity, equity, and inclusion takes just as much practice. His life experiences as a fly fisherman, recreation therapist, and professor at the BYU Marriott School of Business have given Zabriskie a unique opportunity to develop patience, empathy, awareness, and to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Every year, each department in the BYU Marriott School of Business selects one outstanding student to receive the Bateman Award, which recognizes excellence both inside and outside the classroom. The award is named after Merrill J. Bateman, who served as the dean of BYU Marriott from 1975–79 and the president of BYU from 1996–2003. 

Whether he is coursing down river rapids in a raft, hiking through the majestic red rocks of Southern Utah, or zipping through the mountains on his mountain bike, Mark Widmer loves being outdoors. Now, as a professor of experience design and management at the BYU Marriott School of Business, he finds ways to combine his love of wilderness exploration with the principles of experience design.

As a fourteen-year-old experiencing Disneyland for the first time, Macie Briggs Duncan knew her life was forever changed—something inside her had awakened. As she walked around, inhaling the scents of churros and popcorn, she knew she wanted to create experiences like this in her future career. Briggs Duncan, now an alumna of the Experience Design and Management (ExDM) Department at BYU Marriott School of Business, believes this experience was the start of her journey to the ExDM program.

Most people would not move by themselves to an island they had never visited in the middle of a global pandemic. Stephanie Janczak, a senior studying therapeutic recreation and management at the BYU Marriott School of Business, is not one of those people. Janczak’s internship and graduation plans were altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, so she grabbed the opportunity to explore a new place while completing her final internship.

The Department of Experience Design and Management at BYU Marriott had to get creative this Fall semester when the program welcomed its new cohort during its annual new student orientation.

Ariadna Mateu is no stranger to risk. In 2008, at the onset of the Great Recession, which affected economies across the world, she left her stable, well-paying job to travel internationally for a year. Now, in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, she’s adjusting to her new position as the chief student experience officer in the Experience Design and Management (ExDM) program at the BYU Marriott School of Business, where she helps enhance, enrich and improve students’ outcomes during their time on campus.

For many students, college can be a transformative and enlightening time. When Rachel Merrill, a 2020 BYU Marriott experience design and management (ExDM) graduate, took ExDM 300, Creating a Good Life Through Experience Design as a freshman, she wasn’t expecting a class that would change her outlook on life. However, after learning about principles such as the psychology of happiness and the power of intentional choices, Merrill is one of the many students who are enjoying the positive benefits from the popular experience design and management class even after the class has ended.

The BYU Marriott School of Business named eleven recent graduates as 2020 Merrill J. Bateman Outstanding Student Award winners.

BYU Marriott School of Business dean Brigitte C. Madrian has announced the appointment of Bonnie Anderson as the school’s newest associate dean. Anderson takes over for previous associate dean Keith Vorkink on 18 May.

When Katie Morgan took a social innovation class at BYU last semester, she didn't anticipate joining a research group based on empowering women. However, while completing a class assignment, Morgan became aware of the inequalities many women face around the world and felt a desire to see how she could help at home in the United States. Her desire led her to join a newly formed BYU Marriott research group, the Women's Empowerment Research team.