As Hill explained, bringing in industry experts to speak about these topics provides Kogod students with the unique chance to learn from people who have done the work.

With names such as 20^th Century Fox, Marvel Studios, and Sony on his resume, Rubenstein is well-versed in getting audiences’ eyes on massive entertainment projects. What made his approach different at the time was the potential he saw in utilizing the Internet to do so. With Sony, he oversaw the first movie ticket sold online through Moviefone; the first film trailer streamed online, and the development of ticketing and showtime applications.

“At the time, we were just seeing the first websites for films being built in Hollywood,” he recalled. “I was one of the early pioneers of digital marketing in that space.”

When Rubenstein isn’t teaching at Kogod, he’s working as the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer for PBS, where he has been since 2014. There, he oversees online distribution and marketing, ensuring that PBS’s offerings are advertised on platforms like YouTube and Hulu and managing the strategy for the PBS app. Over the past ten years, he’s focused on modernizing PBS’s branding, utilizing the increased role of streaming services and mobile functions to keep an older brand competitive and relevant in a fast-paced marketing world.

That adaptability is just one of the lessons he hopes to impart in his digital marketing courses. A significant part of his teaching philosophy involves ensuring that his students are prepared for their first post-college job, whether it’s polishing their LinkedIn profiles or helping them get a Google Analytics certification.

As a marketing expert himself, Rubenstein knows the value of networking across business disciplines and leverages his own connections to ensure students have the opportunity to do so. His inaugural course featured a different speaker each week, hailing from companies like YouTube, Spotify, and Facebook/Meta. After each course, students were encouraged to contact the speakers with follow-up questions and build professional relationships. These connections align with Rubenstein’s larger goal of teaching through open communication.

“I didn’t want to come in to lecture—I wanted to come in and lead discussions,” he said. “We always start each class with a discussion around the latest digital marketing and digital media trends.”

It’s an approach that works both for Rubenstein and for his students. Feedback from his first course was very positive, with students saying they’ve gotten a lot out of his approach to teaching. Rubenstein, whose goal was to teach students lessons that they could take with them both to their other courses and to their jobs, is excited to discover that they’ve learned a lot and are developing new perspectives on digital marketing. Just as importantly, he enjoys having conversations with his students and seeing how they tie what they’ve learned in his course to their broader marketing education.

“The students here at American University are so smart and engaged. They ask the most thoughtful questions,” he said. “I’m constantly amazed and having a lot of fun. I really look forward to coming to class.”