TALK PR Showcase highlights student work

Students in the TALK PR class gave their end-of-semester presentations last Tuesday, Dec. 6, summarizing the campaigns they did during the semester for a variety of clients in the community.

“The presentations were inspiring,” said Dr. James E. Marshall, dean of Research and Graduate Studies. “The student presenters were enthusiastic and professional, and together they made insightful recommendations. These real world experiences are critical to student success, both in college and in their careers. Embedding this type of ‘field work’ into courses is a best practice for student success.”

Clients included:

• Fresno State’s Tiny House
• Central Valley Promise
• Heart of the Hearse Therapy Ranch
• Ryan’s Run for Autism
• Fresno County Library
• Henry Madden Library – the upcoming “9066: Japanese American Voices from the Inside” exhibition
• MCJ social media
• MCJ Wisdom Blog
• MCJ scholarship reception

The class, MCJ 177T, provides public relations students with in-depth, hands-on exploration into the creation of public relations products for real world clients and the management of a public relations agency.

The teams of students presented their projects to their classmates, introducing their clients, explaining the scope of their projects, goals, results and recommendations.

Some teams focused on social media best practices; one team focused on an electronic newsletter for its client; and another team focused on organization branding across all communication channels.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the TALK students and their work,” said Prof. Betsy Hays. “The amount of creativity they put into their projects certainly rivals their professional peers, and they were stellar in the implementation of our culture of always picking up a teammate when they need help.”

Cindy Wathen, communications specialist for the Henry Madden Library, attended the showcase.

“I was impressed with all of the class presentations,” Wathen said, “but especially with the 9066 presentation.”

The 9066 exhibition, on display Feb. 19 through April 30, examines the searing time in American history after the Pearl Harbor attack in World War II when Japanese-Americans were removed from their homes and interned under Executive Order 9066.