Annual Department Narrative: The Bama A&PR Story 2010-2011
The tragic events of April 27 dominate our memory of the 2010-2011 academic year. Although some within our department lost homes and vehicles, no advertising and public relations students or faculty lives were lost to the tornado and that is a blessing. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were not as fortunate.
With the huge exception of April 27, this was an outstanding year for the department, filled with tremendous accomplishments by our students and our faculty. For the third consecutive year, our Public Relations program was ranked among the top five PR programs in national rankings published in PRWeek Magazine. Our Advertising program is also among the top programs in the country according to research published in the Journal of Advertising Education. Given these, and other external accolades, I am confident in claiming that we have the best combined advertising and public relations program in the United States today.
Student Awards
Our students’ work has not only been winning major awards; it is making a real difference. For example, the Century Council was so impressed with our students’ work in a previous AAF National Student Advertising Competition that they funded current students’ efforts to develop a campaign to reduce binge drinking that could be implemented on college campuses nationwide.
This commitment to excellence and to service is a hallmark of the department’s philosophy of creative thinking leading to communication campaigns with powerful impact. This past year, A&PR students created strategic communication plans for a variety of clients and causes, such as the Literacy Council of West Alabama (Literacy Is The Edge) and The Red Cross, to name just a few.
I had mentioned earlier that our students’ work was award winning. I will now elaborate on that statement. This past year the students took home awards at the local, regional and national levels.
For example, A&PR students’ work was recognized with four Gold Addys, two Silver Addys, and the award for the Best Collective Body of Work from the Tuscaloosa Chapter of the American Advertising Federation. At the District Level (the southeastern states in the U.S.) they received a Gold Addy (professional level) and are currently being considered for an Addy at nationals in the professional level. Professional level means that they are competing against advertising professionals and not other students. I will talk more about this soon.
The students’ work is also capturing awards from professional associations in Public Relations. They earned 32 awards in the Student Medallion Awards competition from the Public Relations Council of Alabama. For the second year in a row, our students earned more Medallion Awards than students at any other university in Alabama. Their work has been named one of the finalists for a 2011 Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Awards (at the professional level). Note that indication of at the professional level again. Our students are competing against public relations and advertising professionals and our students’ work is being included among the best. This is a wonderful testament to the ability of our students and what they are learning in our program.
Three of our students, Desiree Mahr, Jessica Austin, and Wai Li earned the distinction of being among the nation’s most promising minority students in advertising. This distinction, from the American Advertising Federation, includes an expense paid trip to New York and sessions with leading advertising professionals.
The impressive showing continues with our graduate students. The Arthur W. Page Society’s national case-writing competition is perhaps the most prestigious graduate student-oriented public relations competition. It is open to graduate students enrolled in MA and Ph.D. programs. Last year, one of our graduate students wrote the first place case study. This year, two of the three top case studies were written by our master’s students. Will Hodges was awarded first place for “Accelerating Into Trouble: An Examination of Toyota Motor Company and its Recent Recalls.” Lindsay Malone was awarded third place for “Eastern Michigan University: Sacrificing Student Safety for a Sharper Image.” Out of all the master’s and doctoral students submitting cases, our master’s students dominated this prestigious competition.
PR Day
A&PR alumni led a highly successful PR Professional Day in October. Fifteen alumni and guest professionals presented in a series of sessions that were attended by more than 450 students.
Faculty Awards
A&PR faculty also enjoyed an award-filled year. Tracy Sims was named Ad Person of the Year by the American Advertising Federation – Tuscaloosa. Susan Daria earned the American Advertising Federation 7th District Donald G. Hileman Educator of the Year Award. The Public Relations Council of Alabama named Teri Henley the Educator of the Year. Dr. Bruce Berger received the 2010 Alabama Alumni Association’s Commitment to Teaching Award at the University-wide faculty meeting in fall 2010. These teaching and service awards are one indication of the productive year enjoyed by A&PR faculty. Perhaps the best indicator of their success this past year, however, is seen in the student awards mentioned earlier. In short, the success of our program is found in the combined efforts of our faculty and our students.
The A&PR faculty and staff provided quality instruction, advising, mentoring and professional support to more than 1100 undergraduate majors and graduate students during the year. In total, the department delivered 72 undergraduate A&PR classes, 41 undergraduate lab sections, 13 undergraduate MC classes, 20 MA classes, and four doctoral seminars. Faculty also led more than 35 independent study projects and internships with students and chaired 16 thesis and dissertation committees.
The faculty received best research paper awards at national and international conferences, including the American Academy of Advertising at which Dr. Joseph Phelps and former UA doctoral student, Dr. Lu Zheng won the Best Research Paper Award for their paper, “Revising the Transportation-Imagery Model and Expanding Understanding of Persuasion via Narrative Advertising.” Overall, A&PR faculty research productivity remained at a high level. A&PR faculty published three books, 19 book chapters and refereed journal articles and five articles in refereed conference proceedings. Faculty also presented 35 refereed conference research papers and delivered many invited conference and professional presentations.
Plank Center
The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations has become an essential component of the department’s efforts to serve as a conduit for interactions among students, faculty and PR practitioners. Two notable examples from among the Plank Center’s many initiatives this past year include 1) the Fellowship for PR Educators Program that places PR educators in public relations agencies and corporations for two weeks in the summer facilitating an exchange of information and ideas that will enhance the professional development of both the educators and the practitioner-sponsors and 2) the Honoring Milestones in Mentoring: A Celebration of Leaders which brought together nearly 300 public relations practitioners, educators and students at the Union League Club in Chicago to honor public relations mentors and leaders.
The efforts of the Plank Center, our students and our faculty have been exceedingly fruitful, and the reputations of our department, College, and University are the beneficiaries of this good work.