Dr. Kevin Visconti has been appointed interim director of the M.S. in Strategic Communication program at Columbia University School of Professional Studies (SPS). Now approaching his 10th year at SPS, Visconti also serves as chair of the Committee on Instruction and continues to teach in the classroom, which he describes as central to why he became a professor.
Visconti’s path to Columbia spans academia and industry. Before joining SPS, he directed a business communication program at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business and worked in global technology consulting and organizational change with Bluewolf, an IBM company. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Miami, his M.A. from Georgetown University, and his B.S. from New York University, making his return to New York, as he puts it, “a full-circle moment.”
“I think this mix of business school background, industry experience, and now 10 years at Columbia has helped me understand this program, but most importantly, understand the needs of students and what will make them as competitive as possible when they leave our program,” Visconti said. “That is what allows us to build a curriculum that suits those demands.”
We spoke with Visconti about stepping into the interim director role, preparing students for a rapidly changing communication landscape, and the value of community, critical thinking, and human connection in the age of AI.
What does stepping into the interim director role for the M.S. in Strategic Communication program mean to you? And how do your experiences shape the way you think about preparing students for the field today?
My main objective is to bring value to student learning. One of the most important ways we do that is by ensuring our curriculum is rigorous, current, and dynamic, meeting the demands of today and tomorrow so we are one step ahead of what employers will be looking for.
As chair of the Committee on Instruction at SPS, I also have the benefit of looking at curriculum across our 19 master’s programs and seeing what other programs are doing. That perspective helps inform how I intend to bring urgency to our program model and course offerings.
One idea that shapes how I teach, and how I intend to lead this program, comes from my experience at Georgetown University, where I received my master’s degree. Georgetown is a Jesuit institution, and one of the central approaches to its pedagogy is cura personalis, which means care for the development of the whole person.
This concept is central to my own teaching philosophy and leadership: care for the development of the whole person. I try to not just see the student I might work with in one class or have as an intern, but instead see the individual as a whole, and what that individual will do when they leave our program and how they might benefit society.
We have a huge community, including a small full-time faculty and a large group of part-time faculty who are crucial to our program. They bring industry insight directly into the classroom. Our faculty are working downtown today and coming uptown to teach tonight, or they are teaching online. If we can treat our community through this idea of the development of the whole person, I think it can blossom, and it can help our students stand out when they enter the workforce.
You mentioned preparing students for the workforce. What are some of your priorities for the program?
Year after year, employers across industries continue to place a premium on effective communication skills. So our students are already at a real advantage, because they understand that the M.S. in Strategic Communication will help set them apart.
Many of our students come into our program having to almost unlearn what they were taught before. Many were taught how to write for academic audiences or how to write in prose, whereas we are very focused on business communication—whether that is writing, social media, oral delivery, or presenting oneself.
I believe our students are going to be leaders. They are going to be in the C-suite, leading global organizations, and to do that, they need to understand the power of communication. That’s one of the reasons why being in New York City right now is so exciting. We are based in one of the greatest media capitals in the world. Our program blends the dynamism of New York City with a cutting-edge curriculum and faculty who are industry experts, all of which combines to prepare students to achieve their career goals.
What do you see as some of the most important opportunities or challenges facing Strategic Communication students and professionals right now?
Of course, now we see the rise of AI. Strategic communicators are going to be expected by employers to use AI as a productivity tool. They are going to be expected to come into an organization and have a command of this developing tool.
Our curriculum is meeting that moment right now. We are actively looking at our syllabi, infusing our courses with AI, ramping up readings, changing lectures, and looking at new deliverables and assignments through the lens of AI.
But the main point is that we are also recognizing the value of critical thinking, which is one thing AI cannot do, at least not yet. I keep trying to tether our students and our curriculum to the idea of keeping the human element involved, which includes considering an ethical perspective in the use of AI.
If we can help our students balance both an understanding of AI as a productivity tool and the practice of critical thinking, then my hope is that they will be leading the charge around this urgency in the ethical development of AI across the many subfields of communication.
What do you want prospective students, current students, alumni, and the broader Strategic Communication community to know about the program at this moment?
The first thing that comes to mind is that I want them to know their voice has value.
For the time I serve in this role, I would like it not to be something that Dr. Visconti is leading, but something that we lead as a community, that we move forward together as a program.
The way we do that is by honoring all the interesting and diverse components of this community. For example, we have faculty focused on many different areas; if we bring all of that together, then we evolve, and we offer our students more by giving them access to these open networks.
I hope prospective students know that when they come to our program, they have a rigorous curriculum, and when they leave it, they have a rich alumni network. They have so many people they can reach out to and connect with, and I believe those connections set them up for the career opportunities they deserve.
To alumni, I would say: If you have been focused on your job, now is the time to come back to our community. Give guest lectures, join our symposium and events, and get to know our students, because your companies are looking for talent, and we have it right here.
To our faculty, I would say this program is only as strong as all of you. I look forward to meeting more of the faculty I have not yet met, understanding what they are doing in their courses, what they need from me in terms of support, and where there might be gaps in the curriculum that we should address.
One of the things I appreciate about graduate school is that working professionals can be learning online on a Wednesday night and directly implementing new skills at work the next day. That is how urgent and important this work is. Every day, what we are learning can be immediately applicable tomorrow.
About the Program
Columbia University's M.S. in Strategic Communication program empowers current and aspiring leaders to shape the future through strategic communication. It is designed to respond to the urgent need for global perspectives, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making at all levels of organization. The interdisciplinary curriculum emphasizes audience-centered strategy and digital competency. Distinguished scholar-practitioner faculty bring real-world experience into the classroom and provide a learning experience that is immediately relevant in the workplace.
The program is available full-time on campus or part-time online with residencies. The part-time format is ideal for experienced full-time professionals based in or outside the New York metropolitan area. Learn more about the program here.
