Contemporary Advertising

Michael F. Weigold is Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs and Professor of Advertising at the University of Florida. He has taught the introductory advertising class for nearly two decades at UF and also regularly teaches courses in advertising research, advertising campaigns, science communication, and communication theory. Professor Weigold has won many awards for both his teaching and scholarship. In 2007, he was designated International Educator of the Year for the College of Journalism and Communications and was one of twenty International Ambassadors for the University of Florida. That same year, he was awarded a Faculty Achievement Award by UF. In 2004, he was named the College's Teacher of the Year.He is the author or coauthor of over 40 publications and numerous conference papers. He has received a College of Journalism and Communications Researcher of the Year award, and his research has been funded by organizations that include the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Shands Cancer Center, and NASA. Professor Weigold's professional experience includes account planning at Fraily & Wilson, an Orlando advertising agency. He has also served as a consultant to a number of organizations, including KOBACO of South Korea, Unilever, Brown & Williamson, NASA, and many local clients.



Christian Arens brings more than 15 years of theoretical and practical business, advertising and marketing experience. He has served in such positions as Partner at Catalyst S+F, President at MindTime Technologies, VP/Digital Strategy at DraftFCB and VP Group Media Director at Carat Interactive. In his advertising days, Chris worked on such clients as Motorola, RadioShack, Amazon.com, Electronic Arts, EarthLink, AT&T, Taco Bell, Levi's, MLB.com, AAA, Microsoft, Avaya, Progressive insurance and more. Successful in starting and helping to raise capital for companies, who he continues to advise in business strategy, revenue/channel development, marketing, advertising and fundraising. Chris is also an active leader in the digital advertising community, frequently speaking at industry events.