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Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Pacinelli is first AU student to pass universal accrediting board certificate in Principles of Public Relations exam


Ashland University senior Bella Pacinelli has become one of fewer than 500 public relations students nationwide to successfully complete and pass the Universal Accrediting Board Certificate in Principles of Public Relations Exam. She is the first AU student to achieve this honor.

After completing 10 hours of course modules that included lessons on campaign design and development, communication theories and models, media relations, ethics, research methods, information literacy, strategic social media, and crisis communication, Pacinelli joins the elite group of students who have earned this certificate.

Completing the UAB exam was not initially on her agenda until a few months ago when she approached AU Communication Studies Professor Shawn Orr about what her job opportunities post-graduation might include. Though Pacinelli is a journalism major, she was not sure if she wanted to jump into that field right away.

Knowing that Pacinelli is minoring in public relations, Orr proposed the idea of taking the UAB exam as a way to stand out from other students and gain a bit more knowledge in the field since she had not taken some of the courses that PR majors typically take. After discussing the idea with her close family and friends, it did not take long until Pacinelli was fully on board to take the exam.

There were several steps to the process that included becoming a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America, having Orr register her for the course, paying a course fee, completing the 13 modules and lastly scheduling and completing the final exam at a testing center.

“I was really nervous,” Pacinelli said. “I put a lot of money into it and I put a lot of time into it. At the end of last semester, that’s what I spent my time doing. Plus I got COVID over break and I was so worried I wasn’t going to be recovered in time to take the test. It was definitely stressful and I just wanted to get it over with. I felt pretty confident taking it though.”

After going through the entire process, it made it much more clear to her that public relations was a career that she could see herself in post-graduation.

“I wanted to see if going through all of that information and learning it and studying it is something that I would want to do in the future and to see if PR and communications was for me,” she said. “That was also another reason why I took it and what I want to get out of it is knowing whether or not that is an avenue that I would like to take.”

 

Once Orr heard that Pacinelli had passed the exam, she was proud of her accomplishment and said she had expected nothing less.

 

“Bella is an exceptional student,” Orr said. “She always goes above and beyond, inside and outside of the classroom. It is just another piece of evidence that the curriculum for public relations is strong at Ashland University. Even as a student who was a PR minor, she is learning the key foundational elements for being a public relations professional.”

 

In addition to Pacinelli being one of fewer 500 PR students to pass this exam, AU will now be listed on the PRSA, PRSSA, and Universal Accrediting Board (which comprises nine public relations professional organizations) websites and within the directory as a participating university.

“It was a great moment of saying the curriculum we are teaching now is the right curriculum and it’s going to help our students be marketable,” Orr said. “I was also very proud of Bella’s efforts because it’s not an easy exam which is why so few students actually pass it and so few universities sponsor it because you really have to have a strong curriculum.”

Pacinelli herself was surprised to hear how few students have passed this exam and even felt like she was not worthy of such an honor.

“It feels strange being in such a small group of people when I didn’t realize that that’s what I wanted to do until like three months ago,” she said. “At the same time it’s exciting because hearing that statistic definitely makes me confident and hopeful that I will be able to get a job out of college.”

When it comes down to it, Pacinelli is proud of herself and the work that she put in to achieve this accomplishment. For future students who may have an interest in taking the exam, Pacinelli encourages it wholeheartedly.

“If this is something that you think will help your future, it’s okay to invest in yourself and do that,” she said. “Just look at it as an opportunity to further your career.”

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Ashland University PRSSA students receive Honorable Mention in national Bateman Case Study Competition

The National Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) organization announced the finalists and honorable mention entries for the 2020 Bateman Case Study Competition on Tuesday, April 24. This national competition centers around designing, developing, implementing and evaluating a major public relations campaign for a real world client. The client this year was the US Census Bureau and student campaigns focused on ensuring that key publics are counted, counted only once, and counted in the correct place for the 2020 Census. 

For the first time ever, an Ashland University team was selected to receive an honorable mention accomodation for their CountAUIn campaign. Less than 25% of all campaign submissions for this national competition are selected for recognition by the 34 judge panel, with the top three finalists competing for a scholarship. This year's honorable mention accomodations represented 14 colleges and universities across the United States and included Ashland University, Syracuse University, DePaul University,  Eastern Illinois University, Washington State University, Kent State and Ohio University among others.  

Every Bateman competition team was tasked with understanding and reaching undergraduate students at their academic institution with key campaign messaging, and then selecting a second public to focus on based on demographic and psychographic information about their community population. The CountAUIn team selected Ashland County Amish and Old Order Mennonite residents as their second public for this campaign after careful primary and secondary research of these segments. To reach campaign objectives, a variety of strategies and tactics to engage AU students were utilized including coffee sleeve advertising, pledge cards, radio and newspaper articles, free promotional pens, tabling events, and an interactive and informational Instagram account. To reach the Amish and Old Order Mennonite population of Ashland County, a group without technology, the campaign utilized two-step theory to focus on building relationships with community opinion leaders, sending out informational letters to the houses of Amish and Old Order Mennonite residents living in Ashland County, and posting info-graphics about the census in community areas frequented by this public.The CountAUIn campaign met, and exceeded, the overarching goal as well as the specific objectives of the campaign due to strategic research, planning, careful execution of the strategies and tactics, and implementation of crisis management contingency planning due to the COVID-19 disruptions. The campaign reached 79% of the Amish and Old Order Mennonite population in Ashland, Ohio and 49% of the Ashland University’s undergraduate population with key messages and engagement opportunities.

Public Relations and Strategic Communication students involved on the campaign team included: Juliet Touma, Rachel Miller, Michaela Godfrey, Samantha Reffner, Kathleen McKay and advisor Shawn Orr.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Congratulations to the Spring 2020 Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society Inductees

Lambda Pi Eta Insignia 
Each year, the Ashland's Chapter of Lambda Pi, the official honor society of the National Communication Association, inducts eligible undergraduate and graduate students into its ranks.  To qualify for membership, students must meet rigorous academic standards.

Current Members
Camille Pollutro, President
Jonathan Larabee
Seth Miller
Dean Paolucci

Spring 2020 Inductees

Graduate Students
Pamela Ciccarello
Darnae Langford
Andrea Thompson

Undergraduate Students
Esther Abel
Cassandra Amick
Madison Graver
Ashley Helenthal
 Jaime Jackson
Kristine Lawson
Rachel Miller
Cameron Ridenour
Stephaine Slack
Juliet Touma

Correctional Education Students
Clifford Abshire
Terry Bradley
Tremaine Brown
Shawn Burtis
Amber Butler
Nathan Carter
Denise Chaisson-Lapeyrouse
Paul Cote
Crystal Clark
Sarah Clark
Dale Conner
Daniel Cosma
Kimberly Cox
Niketra Deloach
Tiffany Dickerson
Shelia Eddy
Ronnie Edwards
Randall Fields
Joey Foster
Dana Francis
Pamela Fruge
Kimmy Gable
Elrick Gallow
William Georgius
Kyle Gibson
Labrandon Giles
Amanda Grayson
Vicki Hawks
Michelle Higgins
Gregory Himel
Claude Holbert
Jeremy Holmberg
Cherylethia Holmes
Marquayle Jackson
Douglas Jamison
William Jobe
Ashley Johnson
Barry Johnson
Nathaniel Kelly
Brian Keyes
Deqwane King
Christopher Konkel
Denise Kruse
Jason Lambert
Joshua Lathers
Christopher Lyons
Lee Machina
Travis Marcell
Jeffrey Mayforth
Telisa McCauley
Jirrico McKee
Trina McQueen
Samantha Metzgar
Eric Miller
Christopher Myers
Robert Paige
Alairis Payne
Jeffrey Peel
Matt Platt
Andre Randolph
Quentin Rhine
Tyrone Rogers
Jamey Rose
Andrew Sanders
Waylon Sauls
Joshua Shadd
Rachel Shoaf
Michael Snelling
Charles Snyder
William Spitzig
Derrick Stafford
Amber Swain
Roy Tate
Russell Thoms
Troy Thornton
Megan Titus-Jones
Bradley Totten
Randal Trahan
Dewayne Vasquez
Jedediah Velas
Duane Washington
Christen Wesley
Harold Whitt
Miles Wood
Michael Yambra
Amy Yang

Congratulations on your academic excellence, Lambda Pi Eta members!


This year, the Communication Studies Department had to cancel its in-person Recognition Night, during which we highlight and celebrate the academic achievements of our students. Though we're unable to get everyone together in person, we're incredibly proud of our students' accomplishments and are shouting them from the roof- or blog-tops! Be sure to check back all week long to read about the other fantastic things our students have achieved this year!

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

This Year's Bateman Case Study Team

Each year, the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) hosts the Bateman Case Study Competition, which provides college students across the country the opportunity to gain experience planning a comprehensive public relations campaign with a real-life client. The US Census Bureau was selected by PRSSA as the campaign client for this year’s competition.

Five AU public relations students participated as part of campaign team CountAUIn in this years competition. The campaign was dedicated to assisting the U.S. Census Bureau by working to ensure college students and other select publics understand the importance of completing the Census and how and when that is done. Given the importance of this initiative, the US Census was selected by PRSSA as the campaign client for this year’s competition. Given the importance of this initiative, the US Census was selected by PRSSA as the campaign client for this year’s competition.

Despite facing additional challenges due to the suspension of all face-to-face classes and activities, the Bateman Team remained dedicated to the goals of this year's campaign: to educate and engage.

The first public every Bateman team was tasked with understanding and reaching was undergraduate students at their academic institution. The second public, Ashland County Amish and Old Order Mennonite residents, were selected after careful research of the Ashland community.Team members conducted primary and secondary research to understand what these populations knew and did not know about the census and how to best reach each population with key messaging strategies. 
#CountAUIn coffee sleeves

To reach campaign objectives, a variety of tactics to engage AU students were utilized including coffee sleeve advertising, pledge cards, radio and newspaper articles, free promotional pens, tabling events, and an interactive and informational Instagram account. To reach the Amish and Old Order Mennonite population of Ashland County, a group without technology, the campaign utilized two-step theory to focus on building relationships with community opinion leaders, sending out informational letters to the houses of Amish and Old Order Mennonite residents living in Ashland County, and posting info-graphics about the census in community areas frequented by this public. 

The CountAUIn campaign met, and exceeded, the overarching goal as well as the specific objectives of the campaign due to strategic research, planning, careful execution of the strategies and tactics, and implementation of crisis management contingency planning due to the COVID-19 disruptions. The campaign reached 79% of the Amish and Old Order Mennonite population in Ashland, Ohio and 49% of the Ashland University’s undergraduate population with key messages and engagement opportunities. 

This was a yearlong project for these communication studies students; however, the campaign implementation dates were limited to March 1-20. Students will learn the results of the national competition from PRSSA by the end of April.

2020 AU Bateman Team Members

To learn even more about the work this year's AU Bateman Team has done, check out these (one, two) articles in AU's student newspaper, The Collegian! 


This year, the Communication Studies Department had to cancel its in-person Recognition Night, during which we highlight and celebrate the academic achievements of our students. Though we're unable to get everyone together in person, we're incredibly proud of our students' accomplishments and are shouting them from the roof- or blog-tops! Be sure to check back all week long to read about the other fantastic things our students have achieved this year!

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Best of Luck to Our COM Studies Students Presenting at URCA!

Ashland University’s College of Arts and Sciences is going virtual for the eleventh annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) Symposium which will feature 41 presentations and exhibitions given, one of which will be given in part by Communication Studies students.

Josie Giordano and Calandra Moore, COM Studies students, along with Alec Mueller, Sophia Lowe, Rainnell Vernon, and Heather Maltbie, will be presenting The Importance of Post-Care Physician Surveys and the Relationship to Host Site.  The abstract for their poster, which is sponsored by Communication Studies faculty member Dr. Gwen Hullman, reads:

Patients visit multiple doctor review websites to find a new healthcare provider. The value of ratings typically lies in the recurring themes present across multiple raters, as opposed to uncorroborated outlying reviews or a very low number of reviews. Additionally, reviews and rating tools can be sponsored by different organizations, such as a third-party review site or the doctor’s health care affiliation organization’s website. The present study compares 100 employer-sponsored website ratings and reviews to third party ratings and reviews of the same physicians for consistency, number of raters/reviewers, and the presence of recurring themes in the reviews (physician  competence, office staff, wait time, office cleanliness). Data are subjected to t-test analysis and thematic analysis.

The Symposium will take place tomorrow, April 15, from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. and is free and open to the public through various Zoom meetings which are listed on the schedule at ashlandurca.blogspot.com.

This year, the Communication Studies Department had to cancel its in-person Recognition Night, during which we highlight and celebrate the academic achievements of our students. Though we're unable to get everyone together in person, we're incredibly proud of our students' accomplishments and are shouting them from the roof- or blog-tops! Be sure to check back all week long to read about the other fantastic things our students have achieved this year!

Monday, April 13, 2020

It's Recognition Week!

Each spring, the Communication Studies Department holds a Recognition Night, during which we highlight and celebrate the academic achievements of our students. 

In light of Ashland University cancelling face-to-face classes and postponing commencement activities in order to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we have had to cancel our in-person celebration.  

While we can't get everyone together in person, we still want to celebrate the accomplishments of our students!  Whether it's making it to the finish line and graduating, being inducted to the National Communication Association honor society, Lambda Pi Eta, working on the Bateman Team, or presenting at URCA, we're incredibly proud of our students. 

We're so proud, in fact, that we want to shout it from the rooftops! Or in this case, blog tops?  

This week, during which our Recognition Night was slated to take place, we will highlight the scholarly activities that our students have undertaken this semester.  Be sure to check back all week long to learn about the fantastic things our students have achieved!

Friday, April 3, 2020

Professor Shawn Orr's Article Featured on eCampusNews

An article written by Communication Studies faculty member Shawn Orr was featured on the front page of eCampusNews, an electronic publication focusing on technology and innovation in higher education.  

Orr's article, 5 tips to teach online - from an instructor doing it now, provides quick strategies to help instructors "[utilize] digital tools to ensure continuity of learning for our students." Tips include setting realistic expectations (for students and for ourselves), celebrating successes, and, of course, communicating!

Check out the full article here!