Richard and Sylvia Geenan established the Geenan Legacy Endowed Scholarship to honor their grandson, Adam Geenan, who graduated from the Broad College in 2001 with a degree in marketing. The scholarship, awarded once per academic year, is intended to support fellow Spartans like Adam who have a shared passion for marketing.
This year, marketing seniors Gabby Rosely and Caitlin Murray were selected from a pool of more than 30 applicants to be Geenan scholars. Both women in business have demonstrated outstanding leadership within their communities and plan to use their marketing skills to make a positive impact. This opportunity helps fund their remaining endeavors at MSU to support them in their future careers.
Swimming toward success
Gabby Rosely, marketing senior
Outside of studying marketing, Rosely is involved in the Cutting-Edge Christian ministry, MSU wakeboarding team and SALT ministry. To top it off, she founded Swimming With Gabby to coach young athletes around Oakland County and teach kids safety skills and swimming techniques. Her role requires putting her marketing knowledge into practice when interacting with her clientele via Instagram and Facebook and designing her website.
Rosely said becoming a Geenan scholar will help her continue to swim toward success and flourish.
“Receiving this scholarship could not be more of a blessing to me at this time in my college career,” she said. “This scholarship has taken a massive weight off of my shoulders, as well as motivated me to reach my best potential as a marketing student before I leave Michigan State.”
In the future, Rosely hopes to generate multiple streams of income through various outlets that align with her personal interests, including trading stocks, freelance work such as video editing and reselling clothing, in addition to a more consistent form of employment. She admires how marketing’s versatility allows her to apply her skills to any of her interests.
“I love marketing because it can be anything that you want it to be, and it will always help you to achieve your goals, no matter what area of life your goals exist in. In a way, making connections and achieving your goals is all about marketing yourself. Take it a step further and market your business or career experience effectively and you will, without a doubt, be successful,” she explained.
Rosely also plans to create a nonprofit organization that recruits volunteers to give water safety lessons and swim lessons to children and adults in low-income cities who do not have access to public pools or bodies of water, ultimately to decrease drowning rates. Ideally, she hopes to first achieve this goal on a local scale before expanding nationally, and eventually employ volunteers in developing countries across the globe.
“Michigan State’s marketing program has allowed me to understand how diverse marketing truly is and how to shape all of the different areas to work in favor of your success,” she said.
Empowered to drive change in health care
Caitlin Murray, marketing senior
Like Rosely, Murray is an involved Spartan, active in several student organizations, including the MSU Marketing Association, MSU Corporate Retail Association, MSU Women in Business Students Association and Kappa Alpha Theta. She also has gained experience through a variety of marketing and sales internship opportunities, such as Broad Executive Development Programs, a nonprofit organization called Troy People Concerned and a startup, Julie Murray Wellness.
She’s excited to see how being a Geenan scholar will take her career to the next level.
“This scholarship makes me very proud of all my hard work I have been able to accomplish while studying in the marketing department at Broad. I think employers will be able to recognize this when they review my resume or [they will want to] ask about the scholarship,” she said. “It empowers me as a woman in business, knowing that I can be recognized for my hard work at a large-scale level.”
Promoting physical and mental well-being is something that hits close to home for Murray and has always been a passion of hers. Last summer, she worked alongside brand managers and account executives for Perrigo, a pharmaceutical company, and following graduation in the spring, she plans to move to Chicago to pursue a career in the industry. She wants to help make a positive impact on other people’s lives and one day become a chief marketing officer. Additionally, she aspires to start her own nonprofit organization centered on mental health awareness, education, resources and normalization of the topic in communities.
“Marketing for me meant I could help make a difference in other people’s lives. Through marketing I would be able to help reach consumers and people and lead them to the best possible product or service to fulfill their needs,” she shared. “Marketing allows leaders to be influential in society and shape others’ lives.”
Broad’s marketing curriculum has allowed Murray to develop the skills and resources to be a successful and knowledgeable individual in the workplace. Marketing has provided her an outlet to use her creativity and analytical skills in meaningful ways.
Murray added, “MSU’s marketing program has prepared me to be an empowered woman in business. Eric Doerr, director of student and corporate engagement in the Department of Marketing, has been very kind and helpful in both my internship and full-time job search. The Russell Palmer Career Management Center has also helped me with my career development. Thanks to these resources and my marketing classes, I feel confident in my qualifications and knowledge in marketing.”
