Amazing Alumni: Kevin Doe Crowsyn

By Leah Antovel, marketing and social media assistant at UF CJC Online

Jan. 7, 2021

When students graduate from our Master of Arts in Mass Communication program, some alumni choose to improve upon their skills to become better at their jobs, like First Sergeant in the United States Army, Kevin Doe Crowsyn.

Kevin, originally from Orange County, California, graduated with a bachelor’s in management from American Military University in 2010. Wanting to be the best in his field and stand out in the military community, and after hearing about our highly-ranked program, he decided he’d only apply to UF for graduate school.

“I figured if I was going to take the time and effort to go to grad school, I was only going to settle for the best,” Kevin said. “I wanted to make sure I had the best education and was best equipped to help my organization.”

He went through our Social Media program, graduated in 2017 and now works at US Army Recruiting Command where he is assigned to the 2nd Medical Recruiting Battalion. In this role, he helps oversee the Orlando Army Medical Recruiting Company, responsible for recruiting medical professionals for the US Army and Army Reserve, made up of six offices across Florida and Georgia. Kevin became First Sergeant of the Orlando Company in April 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to impact everything about our lives.

“It also greatly affected medical recruiting,” he said. “A large part of how the United States Army meets and recruits is through residency programs, through undergrad and grad schools as well as medical and dental schools. So, having that face-to-face interactions, at the University of Florida, you know, at our local hospitals, that’s a cornerstone of how we do business.”

With no other option other than to adjust, and with no specialized training in place for social media usage or virtual marketing, Kevin took his existing background and what he learned from his master’s degree to immediately implement a 90-day intensive training program for all six of his offices on proper social media usage. This included standardizing their presence across all platforms and conducting an extensive social media audit. It also involved ensuring all employees knew the demographics of each platform so they could effectively develop networks, get their message across and generate referrals for medical professionals in a convincing way to military leadership and in terms that are widely understood, not just in the military community.

“By doing that, within our first 90 days, we had almost a 200% increase in our social media following across all of our platforms,” Kevin said.

In part due to this strategy, the Orlando Army Medical Recruiting Company was recognized as the #1 medical recruiting company in the country for the 2020 fiscal year.

Along with the success he has had in his work, Kevin is proud that his master’s degree, aside from allowing him to get a promotion, gave him skills that affect something on such a large scale. 

“The second and third-order effects of what we’re doing and medical recruiting are going to ripple for years, you know, because of the people we are recruiting,” he said. “Some of them are already in the US Army Reserve in the fight against the COVID pandemic.”

For military professionals or individuals interested in doing communications for the military, Kevin suggests they consider UF CJC Online. He points out how his education was paid for by the Post 9-11 GI Bill, and how he and his classmates were able to use their degrees in unconventional ways. In addition, students can tap into the extensive Gator Nation alumni network long after they graduate. 

“I think what I’ve been doing can hopefully set an example and show other soldiers that they can set their sights high,” Kevin said. “They don’t have to settle for programs that are not at the top of their field.”

If you’d like to learn more about pursuing a degree with UF CJC Online, please visit our website at onlinemasters.jou.ufl.edu/ and follow us on social @UFCJConline

Posted: January 7, 2021
Category: UF CJC Online Blog, UF CJC Online Profiles, Uncategorized
Tagged as: Amazing Alumni, Graduate School, Online Learning