Big Brands Sponsor College Classes to get Social-Media Help - WSJ.com

• MARCH 9, 2011
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• Here, Tweeting Is a Class Requirement

By KATHERINE ROSMAN

Emerson College instructor David Gerzof teaches students to design online marketing for Sprint and other companies.

Businesses including Sprint Nextel Corp., Levi Strauss & Co. and Mattel Inc. are sponsoring college classes and graduate-level research to get help with their online marketing from the young and hyperconnected. 

Fox Sports Net, a group of regional sports channels, works with schools such as USC and the University of Florida as part of a program it calls Creative University, which launched in 2008 and will be rolled out to 10 schools by the fall.