Marcus King ’19 has always been a leader—it just came naturally, even as a student.

Before he graduated from Southern Illinois University in 2011 with a journalism/integrated marketing communications degree, he was elected by 18,000+ of his peers to serve as the undergraduate student body president. In this role, he was responsible for representing student views in monthly meetings with the university chancellor.

Recognizing King’s strong performance in leadership and campus involvement, a professor encouraged him to pursue a Dunn Fellowship after graduation: a year-long governmental honors fellowship program that identifies young professionals who have the skills needed for executive-level positions within the Illinois Governor’s Office. Selected from a pool of more than 5,000 students, King had the opportunity to work in the press office to assist the press secretary with releases and media interaction.

With that experience under his belt, he was soon tapped for a new government role: chief of constituent affairs for the State of Illinois, where he was entrusted with significant authority over staff, served as a media spokesperson and handled media inquiries for the Illinois Department of Corrections, and organized and executed Summit of Hope (the No. 1 U.S. re-entry program for ex-offenders).

He had already gained impressive experience in just a few years, climbing the ladder quickly. (Maybe a little bit too quickly, he admits.) With so much of his career left in front of him, King wanted to do more to improve his skills—and realized that a graduate degree might be the answer.

“What sold me on the MS in Communication program was when I went to the open house and got to sit through a class taught by Michelle Shumate,” he says. “There was something about her. I was very impressed.”

Given the demands of his job, King couldn’t imagine being in class on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday night. But he also didn’t want to give up his Saturdays for classes. Once he realized he could complete the graduate program in one year, he decided the Saturday sacrifice was worth it.

Only a month after he began the MS in Communication program, King’s career took another step forward. In December 2018, he was offered another senior-level position. He now serves as the State of Illinois’ senior advisor for civic engagement.

“If you’re in any type of leadership or communications position, then this program is for you,” he says. “There’s nothing you can think of that the program doesn’t touch on.”

He says his professors presented information in a way that made him curious about communication; he could relate the curriculum to everything he dealt with at work (and in his personal life, too), which only made him want to learn more.

The lessons were so valuable, in fact, that he saved his class notes—and he’s glad he did. “I was able to reference them later—I still do—and they’re like gold,” he says. “I didn’t always make the connection at the time with some of the things being taught, but I wrote them down. When I started to step away, I was able to start connecting these ideologies and philosophies to advance my career and professional relationships.”

As he works on a personal video project—set for release this fall—he spoke with a Kentucky state representative about ethics and virtue. His ability to talk about those topics in-depth with the legislator is owed to Randy Iden, King says.

“Some of his concepts were so new to me that I became fascinated with them. That’s what this program does. The professors put you on different roads you never would have traveled. Once you start traveling those roads, you get to destinations you never would have thought about on your own.”