From silos to synergy: enhancing faculty collaboration through co-op
Maliha Karim (she/her) is an Honours Arts student majoring in Communications and minoring in Digital Arts Communication (DAC) in her 4A term. Maliha talks about working outside her faculty and bringing her knowledge to the Faculty of Environment to boost their social media presence.
Maliha's co-op journey
Work term one: For her first work term, Maliha worked for L'Arche Ontario as a vocational/residential assistant, otherwise known as a personal support worker. This experience solidified her desire to focus on a career in communications.
Work term two: In her second work term, Maliha was a student engagement associate in the Faculty of Environment Dean’s office. Here, she was able to help create and organize events to gain student engagement.
Work term three: Maliha has continued her time in the Faculty of Environment, most recently working as a digital communications assistant. She has expanded her impact to social media, where she has been updating and implementing social media campaigns.
Q&A with Maliha
How have your passions shaped your co-op journey?
“Throughout my academic journey I've had a strong interest in how creative media and storytelling intersect with strategic communication. I feel that this passion has shaped the way I approach my co-op experiences.”
“Throughout my experiences I was able to combine my creativity with technical communication skills and it helped me open the doors to unique ways of engaging audiences.”
“The courses that I have specifically taken in my Communications major also helped me strengthen my understanding of multimedia production digital platforms and public engagement. I was able to apply those forces that I've learned directly to my co-op experiences.”
What is something you were curious to learn about from the Faculty of Environment?
“One of the things I was most curious about was how the Faculty of Environment approaches student engagement. Coming from a Faculty of Arts background, I wanted to see how initiatives for this faculty were communicated to students, especially when many students might not come from that field.”
“I was also curious about how I could contribute my creative skills to an environment-focused space and bridge that gap between arts and environment through communication strategies. So being able to get inspiration from my own faculty, I wanted to bring that side of my creativity into this faculty. This was a challenge that I had to face and it gave me the opportunity to lend them a helping hand.”
“There was a lot of opportunities for me to innovate current communications strategies, such as creating Instagram Reels. So I started creating Reels for the Faculty, I started doing content creation, I was trying to innovate and grow their social media presence.”
“I was promoting as much as I could, to the point they got such a huge amount of participation. They got around 500 interactions through these Instagram posts. A lot of people viewed the content, they were really interested in it.”
“I was always trying to involve the Faculty with these events so that students know that the Faculty is here to help. They're here to support you and they're here to organize these events for you that are very fun and there's always treats and goodies at the end.”
What is your proudest co-op achievement?
“One of my proudest co-op achievements was organizing and promoting a student event, which was Enviro Café. I did that in my student engagement associate co-op term.”
“Another proud achievement was being able to create media pieces for the several events that happened in the Faculty this year, such as the leadership series. Another one was a food truck social. Another one was convocation.”
“Just being able to play a key role in designing and writing about certain events from a student perspective. Using my communication strategy, managing outreach campaigns, ensuring everything ran smoothly on the day and just seeing students engage with these pieces has been so rewarding. Also hearing their positive feedback was incredibly rewarding.”
What skills have you learned from your co-op terms that you’ll take with you into the future?
“I developed a variety of skills. I was able to spread my wings from these experiences and develop my hard skills, which included creating content. I was able to write engaging blog posts, news articles and social media updates. I was able to create digital screens and social media posts for certain upcoming initiatives.”
“I also learned soft skills as I was given the opportunity to work with different stakeholders in helping them ensure their event is promoted. I got to do a lot of research about events so that I'm able to get enough detail to promote it as well as I can.”
“Another one was social media management. Managing multiple platforms, creating content tailored to different audiences. Public speaking and communication helped me present my ideas to the faculty members and students in the meeting."
"I was able to build a lot of ideas of how we can be more engaged with the student community and how we can gain perspective from students. That's something that I've been enjoying and connecting with different students in the Faculty.”
“I just feel like each co-op term has been a stepping stone in developing the skills I need to succeed in the communications industry in general. I feel like each co-op work term has taught me something and it's so useful.”
How has co-op helped you with your career goals?
I would say that co-op has been an invaluable experience for me because it gave me practical hands-on experience in communications that I couldn't have just gained through classroom learning and course content.
“I wanted more of a practical approach where I'm able to implement my courses in an in-person work experience. The exposure to different audiences and working with different environments has been essential in helping me build a portfolio which showcases my ability to work across digital platforms, events and campaigns.”
“Now that I have a portfolio, I hope I can implement that for the Faculty of Arts because I've never done a co-op term with the Faculty of Arts and I'm really hoping to work for them.”
“I want to refine my skills and be able to use new skills that I've learned in my next co-op job. These experiences solidified my career goals and I realized that I wanted to work in the communications field, whether it's in corporate communications, digital marketing or even journalism.”
“My past co-op terms have sparked an interest in media and I'm considering public relations, journalism or even somewhere in communications to become a news reporter or a news anchor.”
What’s next for you?
“I plan to pursue a career in communications, ideally in a more media or a corporate communications environment. I have a long-standing passion for journalism and I would love to grow into the role of being in public relations or even a news reporter. My experience with digital content and engagement has really given me a strong foundation for that career path and I'm excited to see where it leads.”