School of Communication
Face to Face with...
James McHale
Assistant Vice President for Program
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
B.A., Public Relations, 1984
At that time in my life, I found I wanted to stay closer to home. In my senior year of high school I'd been diagnosed with cancer and my treatment had me shuttling back and forth to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland for a clinical trial of chemotherapy for the particular kind of cancer I had. Under the circumstances, I wanted to stay close to my siblings and support network. But I still wanted to get out of the house. And Western's reputation in public relations was well established, so that made it an easy choice.
In all honestly, I think the biggest lessons we learn aren't always in the classroom. I did some soul searching during my college years, asking myself 'What's it all about?' and looking internally. And I came to the conclusion that it's not about me, but about providing service. In the end, everything in life comes down to relationships. Nowhere is that more obvious than in organizations. Because you can have the best engineering, the best technology, but an organization is not going to function without the continuity and trust that comes from building relationships. Every endeavor - whether you work for a corporation or a nonprofit organization - will be more successful if you have a better understanding of the people you are trying to reach. I find that's especially true when you're shaping messages to connect with people in communities, with kids, or with folks in neighborhoods. You have to think creatively. You have to ask, what's the role of the taxicab or the beauty shop or the corner store? If everyone doesn't read the paper, how do you get a message out?
I see the focus on relationships as part of the School of Communication's success, in a way. Every organization is only as good as the people who are part of it. WMU has excellent faculty and in Communication they worked hard to keep the student-to-faculty ratio low enough so professors could get to know me as Jim McHale, an individual rather than part of the crowd. Education all comes down to quality and the caliber of the faculty and student experiences contribute to that.
It's the same advice I'll give my children when it comes time for them to go to college: Take the minimum of classes in your major to receive your degree so you can take advantage of the richness of the university. Arts, education, history, economics - take advantage of the opportunities available to broaden your understanding of the world by experiencing the breath of the university you choose.