Irvine looks fondly back on her years at BYU and notes how they prepared her for her current career as a professor and author

In 1992, recent BYU graduate Rebecca Irvine was ready to take on the world. With her bachelor’s degree in communications in one hand and her recent mission call to London in the other, Irvine leaped into adulthood with both feet. When she returned from her mission across the Atlantic, she chose to pursue her master’s degree at the familiar BYU campus. In 1996, Irvine graduated with her master’s in communication.Today, Irvine is a professor at not one, but two schools—Scottsdale Community College

As she looks back on how her time studying at BYU helped her prepare for her current career, Irvine recalls her graduate thesis on relationships and micro-marketing. “These were the early days of computers,” Irvine said, “and marketing professionals were experimenting with using databases to personalize marketing pieces sent to clients with the intent to build a relationship.” This research helped her in an internship she took in New York during the summer of 1991 with the McCann Erickson ad agency

Encouragement from her comms professors also helped Irvine gain confidence in her skills. “The first time I was told I could write well was by Dr. Dan Stout,” Irvine recalled. “His comment surprised me; I had never thought my writing was anything special. But that compliment gave me a boost of confidence. When I went to work as a research analyst, it involved a lot of report writing. I knew I could do it because of Dr. Stout.”When she began teaching college courses as a professor, Irvine said that experiences at BYU like that one helped her in the classroom. “I drew a lot on my BYU experiences to help me connect with students better,” she said. Irvine never intended to write a book, let alone six (and counting). When she recalls the events leading up to her first publication, “Adventures With the Word of God,”

Her most recent published work, “Come, Talk With Me,”

Her next book, “Let’s Learn Together,” will follow the 2022 “Come, Follow Me” curriculum for the Old Testament and will be published in October.Since graduating with her master’s degree in 1996, Irvine said that while she has learned much from her time in the workforce, she is “still going through learning curves.” She continues her lifelong education by keeping up on her reading and attending conferences for organizations like the American Night Writers Association