By Heidi Hannoush, Undergraduate Intern
Gwendalyn Flick, a double major in English and Business Administration, values the interdisciplinary focus of her classes. “I feel so lucky that I am able to be a part of two programs that see the value in cross-departmental learning,” she says.
For Gwendalyn, the ability to work across disciplines is important because of the transferable skills she is able to gain and apply. She believes her English classes have helped tremendously in a business setting. “A huge part of it for me is persuasion,” she says, “if I am able to communicate my ideas about business or marketing persuasively, then I can make more of an impact.” She continues, “There’s even been public speaking components, which have helped pretty significantly and which I think are transferable skills, especially in the business field.”
A class Gwendalyn found particularly useful was English 304 Advanced Business Communications. There was a heavy focus on clear and concise business writing and on consulting. She was part of a team that worked with Career Services to evaluate the ECL department’s website and offerings. The group was able to draw on their expertise in English and business to offer feedback on how to improve the department’s communication with its students. “It was nice to kind of ‘give back’ and use my skills to help the English department out in a way,” Gwendalyn remarked. “I felt like that was a class that was uniquely designed to suit my interests.”
This semester, Gwendalyn is putting her transferable skills to use in an internship with the tech non-profit, MCNC. She works in the Marketing & Communications Department, where she does everything from writing internal newsletters to editing the website. She says she relies heavily on what she has learned from her time in the ECL Department, which, along with her experience in the Kenan-Flagler Business School, has prepared her for multiple aspects of the internship.
Looking towards the future, Gwendalyn says she is most interested in marketing and consulting, areas where she depends on both her Business and English majors. But as advice to all students, she suggests that “English is an undervalued double major option. Regardless of whatever field you enter post-graduation, you’re going to need to be able to communicate.”
