COMMUNICATION

UB doctoral student is awarded internship with VISA International

A UB doctoral student in communication may have missed Buffalo's cold, wintry months, but it was for a good cause: the opportunity to participate in a 16-week internship in California.

Joseph Salisbury of Buffalo completed an internship at VISA International's market research department, headquartered in San Mateo, during the spring semester. VISA provided funding for this full-time opportunity.

Harvey Bondar, senior vice president for market research at VISA International, is a 1977 alumnus of UB. "This internship provided an opportunity for an aspiring communication student to receive valuable work experience," he said. "Partnerships like this are beneficial for both the participating company and university students."

During his internship, Salisbury assisted with all aspects-from design to completion-of VISA's global customer satisfaction project. "Joe was involved in data analysis and putting communications plans into effect, as well as any test work to evaluate the questionnaire," said Tracy Hapton, VISA International's director of emerging products/service quality research. "His strong communication background and skills in computer-based content analysis were important to implementing and completing this project."

"This was a tremendous opportunity to apply what I've learned at UB," said Salisbury, who holds a master's degree in communication from San Jose State University and a bachelor's degree in communication from UB. "I applied communication research methodology to market research and essentially demonstrated to VISA how to merge the communication field with a marketing situation."