Graduation ceremony for 8 communication professionals

Eight communications professionals received their diplomas on November 19, graduating from the Executive Master of Science in Communications Management within the Faculty of Communication Sciences at USI Università della Svizzera italiana.

A global leader in this field, the EMScom program prepares professionals in developing new perspectives in key communication management areas and, beyond that, to contribute to their organizations’ corporate strategy. An essential part of the degree is the real-life consulting projects for companies or institutions. These projects are developed and delivered to the client by a team. 

After receiving the diplomas by the Dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences, professor Andrea Rocci, and the EMScom Academic Director, professor Francesco Lurati, the graduates have received two important acknowledgments: the Burson-Marsteller Award for Consulting Excellence and the SPRI Award for the best overall average grade.

Burson-Marsteller Award for Consulting Excellence
The team receiving the highest grade is awarded with the Burson-Marsteller Award for Consulting Excellence. Matthias Graf, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Switzerland, presented the award to Aimée DuBrule (Switzerland), Matthias Müller (Switzerland), Kathryn Robertson Ballotta (Portugal) and Olesya Winkler (Switzerland).The group received the mandate from a division of a multinational operating in the food and beverage industry. The project mandate was to develop the strategy for a global partnership in order to advance the company’s reputational objectives. This included identifying a relevant area of intervention, outlining the business case for the partnership, proposing criteria for partnership selection, and presenting a long list of non-governmental organisations working in this space for potential collaboration.

SPRI Award
The SPRI Award for the best grade average encompassing the entire program was granted to Kathryn Robertson Ballotta (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction EMCDDA) by Peter Eberhard, president of pr suisse.

Pictures
Photos of the graduation ceremony will be available for download at the following link after the event at 6:30pm (CET): http://bit.ly/2gmcSSo

List of graduates and professional affiliation:
Aimée Louise DuBrule, Cereal Partners Worldwide (Nestlé & General Mills)
Stephen Funk, IBM Switzerland
Kevin Hansen, Infocentric Research AG
Matthias Müller, Publicis Communication Schweiz AG   
Kathryn, Robertson Ballotta, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
Elizabeth Kay Soguel, PowerStream Inc.
Barbara Weiss, Microsoft Schweiz GmbH
Olesya Winkler, independent

About USI and EMScom
The USI Università della Svizzera italiana is part of the Swiss public university system. Founded in 1996, it is distinctive in the Swiss university landscape because of the originality of its degree curricula and the high percentage of international students. USI comprises four main faculties: Economics, Communication Sciences, and Informatics in Lugano, and the School of Architecture in Mendrisio. USI offers a range of executive programs, among those the Executive Master of Science in Communications Management (EMScom).
As a global leader in its field, the EMScom program prepares professionals in developing new perspectives in key communication management areas. Based in Lugano, the EMScom is an intensive part-time program with nine residential sessions spread across eighteen months. To reinforce degree candidates’ international perspective, USI Università della Svizzera italiana cooperates with two renowned business schools: the UCLA Anderson School of Management (Los Angeles) and Singapore Management University (SMU) giving participants a unique opportunity to study side by side with Asian peers.