Meet Taylor J. Durham ’11 M' 14, an RMU alum and one of RMU’s 2024 Luminary Award recipients. Durham was also the RMU Massey Center's first Designer-in-Residence. Now, Durham lives in Philadelphia with his wife and has worked at the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School’s Venture Lab for approximately 7 years, currently serving as the Director of Marketing and Digital Studios.

Durham began his academic journey at RMU in 2007, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree with a concentration in Television and Video Production, graduating in 2011. He continued at RMU immediately after, pursuing a Master of Science (M.S.) with a concentration in Instructional Leadership, which he completed in 2014. Afterward, Durham did not return to RMU until nearly a decade later. 

In that decade, Durham moved to Philadelphia with his family and utilized his marketing and branding skills to freelance for smaller agencies and companies. He also says that those freelancing jobs helped him pick up valuable tools along the way–that helped him attain his current position with the University of Pennsylvania’s Venture Lab including leadership skills, project management skills, graphic and web design, videography, and social media marketing. Durham describes those freelancing positions as “...different pieces of a puzzle that were building into what would be my eventual career.”

Durham believes that RMU prepared him for his professional journey and taught him that being well-balanced is essential in today’s working world.

“... I originally came to RMU to do Engineering… When I did my tour at RMU as a freshman, I came across the Media Arts lab and immediately switched majors because I was always an ‘Arts’ kid. I had been doing art for years at the Carnegie Museum of Art, at Carnegie Mellon University, and a lot of pre-college art programs, so I knew I was going to get a B.F.A. at some point, but I didn’t know what it was going to be in…

I think what RMU showed me was that you need to dabble with those side interests and align them with your main interests… Part of my growth was realizing that I can’t be the best videographer, producer, or editor, if I don’t have any substantial graphic design background to complement my work. Then, likewise, I realized I can’t be a good video producer and editor if I can’t take my videos and spread them through different mediums of media like web or social or television… As I was picking up all these technical skills, one thing RMU gave me above everybody else within the region was the technical acumen. Every other college student I had worked with on an internship wanted to get into journalism and were more focused on the communications side of things, but RMU gave us the technical advantage when it came to the operational side of studio management, production, working with talent, and things of that nature…”

After those ten years away, Durham was finally led back to his alma mater through his position at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).

“I do a lot with alumni at Penn since I’m the Director of Marketing and Digital Studios at Venture Lab and a lot of my job is doing alumni outreach and engagement with alumni… The more I kept working with them… the more I thought about my own alma mater… I thought, ‘Huh, maybe I should check out what’s going on at RMU because it’s been ten years since I left…”

Last October, RMU's Wheatley Center hosted the Media Arts Entrepreneurship Clinic, which was organized by The Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Durham, the clinic's marketing expert, guided students in developing strong marketing and branding skills, helped them learn about content creation, and allowed students to receive feedback during professor office hours. 

Durham mentioned that the clinic was first introduced to him during an RMU-on-the-Road event–in Philadelphia–last May, where he met with Rose Jandrasits M’23, Director of Alumni Relations, who put him in contact with Dr. Eliada Griffin-El and the Rockwell Center.

“...Funny enough, Dr. Pinson was my professor back in the day, so I reconnected with her and Dr. Tim Jones. I had talked to them about what I had done after graduation, since I was a Media Arts student… I used to run the radio station with a couple of my friends, I heavily invested in RMU TV, I was a part of the RMU Filmmakers Guild, and a lot of my friends, in that era of RMU, have gone on to do different things, like work for sports teams or other universities… that conversation flourished into… coming back to give that kind of expertise. 

I teach Branding and Marketing to all students here at Penn. I said to myself, ‘So, if I’m doing all those same things here, I can take everything I’m doing here at Venture Lab for Entrepreneurship at Penn, and then, apply that, at the same scale, to what’s happening at RMU…’”

With the inception of the Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Rockwell Fellowship, entrepreneurship has become one of RMU’s core values. Both offer student entrepreneurs the chance to work with the Director of the Massey Center, build their network, and attend different skills workshops.

When Durham graduated from RMU, he and a few friends decided to start their own film production company, which made him realize entrepreneurship was for him–especially because he knew he always wanted to start his own business. Durham believes that it was “only natural” for entrepreneurship to become one of RMU’s core values because entrepreneurship plays a key role in the revitalization of local communities and drives economic growth. 

Durham emphasized how his own journey spotlights the importance of entrepreneurship not only as a means of success, but also as a way to have a lasting impact in the community and to create ownership. He also believes that applied learning and practical learning are the keys to teaching entrepreneurial skills and that RMU’s focus on entrepreneurship and leadership could encourage small businesses and entrepreneurs. Durham thinks that RMU’s efforts, especially by organizing and hosting different workshops and clinics, are a vital aspect to student development and sees it as an opportunity to establish a strong social impact and community presence, ultimately benefiting the Western Pennsylvania area.

In November 2024, Durham was recognized as one of the inaugural Luminary Alumni Award recipients at the Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation during the 2nd Annual Illuminating Futures Gala. Durham noted that he was honored to receive an award from RMU and was surprised when he first heard the news.

“Honestly, the award was kind of a surprise; I didn’t even know I was going to get it until after we got done with everything for the Media Arts Entrepreneurship Clinic and the Rockwell Bootcamp, so it felt amazing to get that award… It made me think, ‘Okay, I said I wanted to come back to RMU, I did it with this clinic and bootcamp’ and I think this award, for me, personally, is a calling card to keep coming back to RMU and doing this–to try to keep coming back and doing as much as I can to support my university…”

He said he misses the social aspects of RMU and remembers the times when he and his friends would gather together at the patio space between the Hamilton and Hancock buildings. Although he became a commuter in his junior year, he misses his times buzzing around campus as a freshman and sophomore.

“The folks I met at RMU are people that I’m still close to. Also, it’s kind of interesting to just go around the world and find somebody randomly that pops up from RMU. It’s happened to me four times since I’ve been in Philadelphia actually…”

Durham emphasized that he wants to return to RMU every semester and loves to return to campus to give back to the students and the RMU community. He also wants to re-establish Philadelphia as an RMU hub.

“... Every time I look it up on LinkedIn, it says there are like 20,000 RMU alums in the Philadelphia area… I want to help create a network for internships, advice, and mentorship between the existing student body and ourselves and say, ‘Hey, if you’re thinking about moving to Philadelphia or want to move to Philadelphia, you can contact one of us and we’re happy to talk to you, tell you what’s out here, introduce you to other people, and get you established.’”

“Everywhere I’ve gone and all the skills I’ve amassed over the years–I think it all points back to Robert Morris… If it wasn’t for the technical training and the kindness of the professors, the flexibility of their office hours–and even coming down to assist with projects we were working on–I think that level of hands on training and care that was given to students that wished to be creatives like them and get in those spaces was relatively unmatched… We are probably the strongest creatives that come out of the Pittsburgh region.”