Greg Wagner
For the past 14 years, Teaching Associate Professor of advertising Greg Wagner leveraged connections from 35 years of working at high-profile advertising agencies to give students job and internship opportunities and the chance to present to big-name, real-world companies as part of their classwork.
“It’s been so much fun over the years,” said Wagner, who retired in June 2021. “I’ve brought in Ford, Nestle Purina, Comcast, McDonald’s, Cadillac, Vail and Aspen Resorts—my students would do a full ad campaign for the client.”
As director of marketing internships at Daniels, Wagner drastically expanded the number of students who get internships. An initial database of 10 companies swelled to more than 600 employers in Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, St. Louis, Los Angeles and
New York.
Photo courtesy Greg Wagner
“He has made such a difference for our students,” said Carol Johnson, former chair of the marketing department and now assistant dean of Daniels’ MBA programs.
A former creative director at ad agencies D’Arcy MacManus Benton & Bowles and Leo Burnett, Wagner started his teaching career as a guest lecturer at his alma mater, the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He taught a few classes at the University of Colorado Boulder before joining DU in 2007.
“The thing I’m proudest of is that I’ve helped probably over 100 students [get] their first job, either through recommending them or just helping them network,” he said.
“Professor Wagz,” as his students call him, helped Anna Foley (BSBA 2021) land a job as a marketing analyst with Dallas-based Bloom Health Partners.
“It’s sad that Professor Wagz is leaving,” she said. “I feel bad for students who could have had [classes with] him. They were some of my favorites at DU.”