MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — “Out of the Blue,” Middle Tennessee State University’s monthly television magazine program, highlights the value of real-world experience in the classroom in its January episode, focusing on a story featuring marketing professor Rajesh Srivastava, better known by students as “Dr. Raj,” and the lessons he brought back to MTSU after appearing on the national television show “On Brand with Jimmy Fallon.”

My goal for this piece was to explore how professional experiences outside the classroom can shape student learning in meaningful ways. Working on this story gave me the opportunity to talk with Dr. Raj about his time on national TV and how that experience directly influenced the way he teaches and connects with students.

The Jones College of Business professor emphasized the importance of firsthand experience, particularly for students preparing to enter creative and professional fields.

“So again, we tell students all the time. Nothing can replace experience. Nothing. I mean, my going through this experience is better than 10 years of reading on something like this. Physically being there is more important than anything else. So keep doing things because that’s how you get experience,” Raj said.

The story also includes the perspective of one of his students, Denzel Harris, who said Dr. Raj’s appearance on “On Brand” represented more than a personal accomplishment.

“He showed up for people that might feel marginalized and not shown on national television. And that, to me, was very powerful because not everybody gets that opportunity. And he made the most of it. Whether it was one second, one episode, 20 minutes, the next episode, he made the most of it. And I think that for the rest of my life, I’m going to take that with me to make the most of every opportunity I get,” Harris said.

Hearing from both Dr. Raj and Harris helped illustrate how experiences like this can leave a lasting impression on students. Bringing real-world moments into the classroom helps students better understand what is possible for themselves and their futures.

Watch the segment below:

Working on this piece served as a reminder that learning does not stop at the classroom door. When faculty bring professional experiences back to campus, those moments often become lessons students carry with them long after the course ends.

To watch, listen

• “Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.

• It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 6:30 p.m. Sundays; WKRN+ at 7 p.m. Thursdays and noon Sundays; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.

• It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3.

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

— Karli Sutton (Karli.Sutton@mtsu.edu)