It seems almost idyllic but the laid-back vibe is deceptive. The semester has only just begun and projects will soon come fast and furious. At Brandcenter, like at many real-world ad agencies, all-nighters and weekend work comes with the territory. For that reason, the building, which is always open, is equipped with showers, changing rooms, and dining areas.

While waiting for Boyko’s class “Building Brands in International Cultures,” a second-year student in the art direction track says Brandcenter is “much, much harder” than his undergraduate years at Yale. “It is intense and the workload is relentless,” he says.

One of the first slides in Boyko’s presentation is the Dan Wieden tenet: “Come to work stupid every day.”

Projects for students in the communications-strategy track under Caley Cantrell, formerly of the Martin Agency, include creating presentations of original perspectives on how to shape a brand’s future. On a recent day, two teams shared provocative multimedia presentations on the perception of feminine beauty and the segmentation of the green movement.

Brandcenter students have also been involved in a number of real-world projects for companies like Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Yahoo, The Learning Channel, and, currently, The Tap Project, a water conservation marketing initiative championed by the ad agency Droga5.

One thing visitors notice while making the rounds is that they don’t see many “traditional” ads. Instead of storyboards and headline-driven print ads, there are Web stories, essays, viral video concepts, brand-communications platforms, and cartoons. In the digital age, anything that makes someone take a second look is an ad, and no one understands this more than the students.

“They’re not that interested in TV at all,” Boyko says. “Sometimes I have to tell them that, you know, you’re still gonna need some ads in your books.”

So can advertising be taught at places like V.C.U.’s Brandcenter, or other well-regarded programs like The Creative Circus in Atlanta, The Art Center in Pasadena, or Miami Ad School?

“Talent and instinct are a big part of it,” says Linda Harless, creative manager at Goodby Silverstein & Partners of San Francisco, Adweek’s 2007 Agency of the Year. “But the V.C.U. model, having account services and planners and creatives working as a team, is a slam dunk for a student jumping into this business. When you give them a brief on their first week on the job you’re not worried because they’ve been through so much already.”

Which brings us to the disemboweling. And Fenske. His first name is Mark, but everyone (including students and this reporter, who witnessed the disemboweling firsthand while working for him in 1998) calls him Fenske.

In his advanced portfolio class, Fenske, the former Wieden & Kennedy creative star and founder of the The Bomb Factory agency in Santa Monica, California, takes no prisoners. Work is shredded, literally. Egos are bruised. Lessons in what sometimes seem to be oxymorons in advertising—ethics and morals—are dispensed with Taoist gravity.

“Can you keep yourself from doing something that intrudes on people’s privacy?” he asks. And, “Do you mind if I do this?” as he tears a student’s meticulously-composed yet unsuccessful ad in half. And, “Do you want a job knowing that someone who works there thinks that your best stuff isn’t good?”

For Brandcenter students, perhaps because of classes like this, such a scenario is a long shot. Assistant director of student affairs Ashley Sommardahl explains, “There’s less of a chance of a letdown in the real world after leaving such a progressive environment, because they’re recruited by the best.”

Indeed, there is a growing V.C.U. alumni network in place at the country’s top agencies. And at a recruiting fair at the school after graduation last year, there were 125 recruiters for 75 students.

Which leads one to the conclusion that yes, advertising absolutely can be taught. And sometimes its best teachers are its students.

James P. Othmer is the author of the novel The Futurist, and is writing an advertising memoir.