Story by Eric Modrovich
Photos by Everett Wold
Illustrations by Jordan Hale
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article was published, misidentifying the college that Diane McDonald began teaching at, as well as a mistake stating that she used Google Bids instead of Google Vids. Since then, the article has been updated. Talisman regrets this error.
Welcome to “Take Five,” a column where we sit down with WKU faculty and staff members to learn about five things they love.
Diane McDonald, an assistant professor of advertising and public relations at WKU, said she has spent two decades in her field, initially hired in marketing after graduating from college.
“I did not major in advertising and public relations,” McDonald said. “[Product development] gave me an opportunity to spend seven years traveling around the nation in various roles.”
McDonald said that for her first post-college career in product development and marketing, she had the chance to travel all around the U.S. in various professional capacities. She said that within seven years, she progressed from product management to sales and then all the way to brand management, all before being offered to instruct a marketing class at a university in Arkansas.
“It’s [advertising and PR] been a great career for me,” McDonald said. “I tell my students you don’t always plan your careers while you’re in college; sometimes your careers plan and find you, and this career found me.”
McDonald said WKU offered last fall to have her instruct full-time. She said that back in the fall of 2024, she was an adjunct professor instructing on both the WKU Glasgow campus and main campus, ascending to full-time professor status a year later.
“The one thing I would change is that I would go full-time much earlier in my career than I did,” McDonald said. “I’m actually starting a career at this stage. I’m a tenure track faculty member, [which] includes research, teaching and service and I wish I’d started that much earlier in my career.”
McDonald said she conducts research outside of a classroom-style setting and makes this research relevant to academic circles. She said that change is very fast-paced in her field and that the kind of research she does remains critical to ensuring curricula remain current at all times.
1. Her Christian Faith
McDonald said her faith revolves around “God the Father, God the Son [and] God the Holy Spirit.”
“For two years, I’ve been reading through the Old Testament,” McDonald said. “I’m currently on the book of Daniel, so I hope to finish the Old Testament this summer.”
She said that Daniel, in the namesake book, lived a life of great faith.
2. Power songs
McDonald said music in general remains a highly potent influence for her. She said that when she played musical instruments, she got the best gift she has now, which is her husband.
“Everybody has a power song,” McDonald said. “It’s that song that you play when you need to be picked up in life, or you need motivation to run that marathon, or you need inspiration to finish that paper or project.”
She said her power songs include Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” as well as songs from Ed Sheeran and Billie Eilish.
“Little-known fact, I love hip-hop, and it’s gotta be clean hip-hop,” McDonald said.
3. Kickboxing
McDonald said she eventually wants to do kickboxing on a professional level. She said she doesn’t currently have a way to do so and relates it to her academic instruction settings for now.
Sometimes, she said she has students who get “knocked down by life.”
“I tell them ‘I’m a boxer. When you get knocked down in boxing, you fall down on the mat,” McDonald said. “What are you supposed to do? Get back up as quickly as you can.’”
McDonald said she pursues kickboxing because of her career’s high stress levels. She said that many other careers also have high levels of stress and that it is a normal part of life.
“Getting back up means something different to different people,” McDonald said. “[It] could be taking care of yourself, getting back into the game, showing back up to class, [or] whatever it may be.”
4. Her childhood home
McDonald said that during college, she thought of her childhood home as her sanctuary. She said she remembers her mom’s cooking, conversations with her mom and her childhood room.
“It was like walking back into a time capsule for my whole childhood,” McDonald said.
She said her mom kept the room exactly the way it was for years on end.
McDonald said that peace makes a home what it is and that peace lets people be their true selves while also making a space they belong to.
“[Home] could be that great conversation connection you have, either with a peer or a student,” she said. “At that moment, you could be home yourself.”
5. Artificial Intelligence as a tool
McDonald said that she frequently instructs her students in the art of using AI. She said that tools like Google Gemini and Google Vids can translate any language into any other.
“We’re translating scripts and voice-overs into any language we want with the press of a button,” McDonald said. “I’m really intrigued by this technology because it removes all the barriers to language that we’ve had. [This technology] challenges and helps dissolve the division.”
