Campus News

By Sara Myers, Digital Media & Communications Specialist 

Though she grew up in San Diego, California, RU Alumni Emily Hartzog’s mother convinced her to look at a small, private school in Illinois when Hartzog was looking at colleges. 

Her mother grew up in Rockford and suggested she look at Rockford University while Hartzog was originally looking at bigger schools in California to attend. Schools like the University of California San Diego (UCSD), the University of California, Los Angeles, and Pepperdine University were originally on her list.

“They (Rockford) were the only school that took the time for personal attention, and UCSD is not going to call you personally and say we hope you attend,” Hartzog said. “You’re one of 100,000 students.”

She said she remembers receiving the Rockford viewbook and seeing the campus with its shades of green that she had never seen growing up on the West Coast. 

“I started as an anthropology, sociology major,” she said. “I think I wanted to go into corporate mediation, which is pursuing a law degree. I think over time, I just found myself leaning toward business. It was unintentional.”

Some of Hartzog’s favorite classes at Rockford were with business professor Gary Lubbert. She said he brought in a lot of practical business knowledge and went beyond the textbook.

“It was fundamentals and you just have to have been in the business world, especially on the marketing side. He was just so passionate about it. His classes were so fun and engaging.”

Hartzog also enjoyed Jeff Fahrenwald’s classes, where the professor discussed leadership and the organizational side of business. 

During her time at Rockford, she was very involved as a member of the dance team, a student activities committee member, and a resident advisor. She said it was nice how quickly she was able to get involved on campus, and how you don’t have to be in a leadership position. She recalls going to a national conference with the student activities committee and winning an award.

After graduation in 1998, Hartzog was offered a full-time position in Rockford’s admissions office. She had been working part-time in the office during her last semester in undergrad when her friend in the admissions office went on maternity leave and she was asked to help fill the gap in the intermission.

Once her friend came back from leave, the office asked if she was interested in taking on transfer recruitment and performing arts recruitment. She took the position and started to study for her MBA during night classes.

“It was a lot of fun and travel and in admissions,” she said. “I was still close to the college world. I could speak authentically to the experience and I got my MBA at the same time, so it was great.”

Hartzog went on to work at SupplyCore after meeting the HR director in her MBA classes. This position was a big learning curve and her first step into the business world. There, she wrote press releases, reviewed government contract proposals, and helped with training other employees.

She said it was not easy to leave SupplyCore and move on to the Rockford Public Library, she got to be a director, which ultimately solidified her decision to move into that role. 

“It was a step up in my career and being the one responsible for managing a budget and taking on all sorts of projects,” she said. “In my time at the library, we rebranded, which was huge. It’s a huge project. I integrated a whole new library system, which had a technical component but also had a communications component and a training component.” 

Since 2013, Hartzog has worked at Chartwell Agency, where she recently was promoted to President. She was initially recruited when the agency was a “traditional public relations agency.”

Since then, the agency has grown immensely. It has a fully in-house creative team that includes videography, photography, and web development. She adds that the agency’s roots are still in public relations and storytelling.

“I think our growth and my changing role are almost kind of symbolic of marketing as a whole and continue to evolve, the mediums we use continue to change the expectations of people receiving our messages, and how brands need to connect continues to change,” she said. “It’s almost like a metaphor, how much we’ve grown, how much we’ve evolved, and how much you have to do as a marketing agency.”

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This article is from the 2023-2024 issue from Catalyst.