Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-155).

This study expands the body of knowledge relating to Excellence Public Relations Theory to a new area--religion communication. The project replicated portions of the survey research reported in Grunig, Grunig and Dozier (2002). That research, done from 1991 to 2002, involved top communicators, employees and chief executives in 327 secular organizations across the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. This project surveyed members of the Religion Communicators Council in 2006 and 2007. A second survey in 2008 sought responses to similar questions from faith group leaders who supervised respondents to the 2006-07 survey. Answers from religion communicators were compared to those of their supervisors and secular practitioners in earlier studies. Comparisons showed that religion communicators in this study were a distinct subgroup of U.S. public relations practitioners. RCC members worked primarily as communication technicians, not managers. That made them different from practitioners in the 327 secular organizations studied by Grunig, Grunig and Dozier (2002). Furthermore, religion communicators and their supervisors did not always agree with the way four models in Excellence Theory described different approaches to public relations. Religion communicators also did not know what their supervisors expected from them or their departments. Communicators overestimated their supervisors’ support for the press agentry/publicity and public information models of public relations. Communicators underestimated support for the two-way symmetrical and asymmetrical models. Likewise, communicators rated their contributions to the work of their faith groups lower than their supervisors did. Faith group leaders said they wanted communicators to be managers more than technicians. Top executives were looking for expert prescribers and problem-solving facilitators. Religion communicators weren’t filling those roles. This study looked for--but did not find--evidence of a common dynamic in Excellence and Church-Sect Theory. The two-way symmetrical public relations model mirrors the social interaction that turns sects into churches and contributes to membership gain or loss in the U.S. religion environment of 2008. But the faith groups of religion communicators did not influence the way they answered survey questions about various public relations models. Consequently, no link between communication practices and membership change was shown. / text

This study presents an overview of crisis communications and media relations in the U.S. nuclear industry. Literature suggests that there is a need for evaluating the current practice of crisis communications and media relations for the industry through research. Understanding if practitioners are equipped for effective crisis communications and media relations in the event of a crisis, provides useful benchmarks for future evaluation, as the way in which organizations communicate to stakeholder publics and the media will change given the recent complexities and innovations within technology. Without academic literature in this area, it allows for the continued practice of ineffective strategies regarding crisis communications and media relations within the highly technical nuclear industry. With the use of in-depth interviews of nuclear communication professionals and a content analysis of media coverage and online newsrooms, this study will seek to provide research findings for best practices in media relations during a crisis event and reveal some of the current communication strategies that are used by the nuclear industry communication practitioners. / Department of Journalism

The study established how community college leaders establish connections with other community leaders. Connections that form broad and inclusive networks can be used to develop positive social capital in communities. Results showed that new community college leaders follow a pattern of community engagement including the identification of other leaders, making contacts, and extending relationships through community and personal activities. No particular set of personality characteristics is required for the development of community connections. Methods of developing community connections vary depending upon leader, college, and community characteristics. The development of connections is expedited by frequent attendance at events, membership in organizations, and the assistance of college staff. The development of community connections is based on sets of skills that can be learned. Skills learned in the development of community connections can be adapted and transferred from one setting to another. Community college leaders tend to define the results of their community connections by college outcomes rather than by community impact. Community college leaders tend not to have broad and inclusive networks that include informal and social service community leaders. New community college leaders and their staffs can use the results of this study to better prepare for the establishment and maintenance of leadership networks that build community. / Graduation date: 2001

The purpose of the study was to analyze strategies and techniques used in graduate student recruitment efforts at institutions of higher education which have developed graduate student recruitment programs involving administrative personnel in graduate schools. The population consisted of 71 graduate school deans. The deans, however, were given the alternative of selecting an alternate administrator to respond to the survey provided the alternate possessed experience with graduate recruitment activities.A Likert-type instrument consisting of 42 questionnaire items was utilized to gather data pertaining to the respondent and the institution included in the survey, organization for graduate recruitment, current and desired involvement with recruitment administrative functions, plus usage and perceived effectiveness of selected strategy/techniques used in graduate recruitment.Findings1. Institutions having the greatest available finances for graduate recruitment activities tended to have coordinated recruitment programs.2. Graduate administrators expressed strong interest in being involved with the development of recruitment planning, setting goals and identifying desirable recruitment strategies and techniques.3. A lack of formal training existed for personnel engaged in graduate student recruitment.4. Financial assistance, prompt response to applicant inquiry, and personal contact from the concerned department (faculty) were perceived as very effective student recruitment strategy/techniques.5. The utilization of alumni as well as establishing contact with representatives from business and industry were viewed as valuable but relatively untapped sources for increasing the number of graduate student applications.Conclusions1. The projected decline in the 18 to 24 year-old population group can be off-set partially by conscientious efforts to attract former degree recipients from other age groups, women and minorities.2. Graduate student recruitment has traditionally differed from undergraduate recruitment. Much, of the current activity conducted as. graduate recruitment is uncoordinated and difficult to monitor; however, efforts to organize graduate recruitment programs are attracting the attention of graduate administrators nationally, thus creating the potential for an emerging professional area in graduate education.3. Financial support for coordinated graduate recruitment programs will be derived predominantly from the university budget.4. Faculty are imperative to successful graduate student recruitment, therefore, recruitment planning should include ways to effectively utilize outstanding faculty in the recruitment process.

This study examined public relations in the context of sports to better understand the relationship management methods used during an issue to provide conclusions for how public relations can be applied to develop, improve, and maintain relationships between a team and its community, particularly during an issue.Using a content analysis, this study reviewed relationship management literature and applied strategies of relationship management to stages of Turner's (1974) social drama. The content analysis of 454 news articles revealed that although relationship management strategies were identifiable, they were not significantly utilized by franchises and supporters. The lack of relationship management techniques could be used to explain why the franchise-community relationship was unstable throughout the social drama and why the social dramas lasted longer than the sports franchises anticipated. It also supports public relations researchers who argue for the use of public relations management techniques during conflict in order to build and maintain relationships between an organization and their publics. / Department of Journalism

Why does breast cancer receive so much more federal funding and fundraising efforts than other types of cancers, particularly lung cancer – the leading cause of cancer related deaths? This question is critical to public relations practitioners, in order to replicate or build on the success of breast cancer campaigns. This study was conducted in two parts. First, an Internet survey was distributed as a pilot study to examine public perceptions of cancer related issues. Next, depth interviews were conducted with 25 experts in the cancer field from across the nation. A comparison of pilot study results with actual statistics shows that breast cancer advocates are making a significant difference in people’s perceptions. Breast cancer advocacy campaigns are so pervasive, people don’t understand the significant numbers of other cancers that are diagnosed each year, as opposed to breast cancer. Interviews revealed that breast cancer awareness and funding have benefited from a perfect storm. According to interview participants, breast cancer advocacy may be attributed to: the feminist movement, the HIV/AIDS campaign, celebrity endorsers, and a passionate advocate named Nancy Brinker, who had just lost her sister, Susan G. Komen, to breast cancer. Screening and surgical technology also advanced at the right time, allowing breast cancer research funding and awareness to benefit from the perfect storm. It’s clear that Komen and other breast cancer advocates have made a huge impact on public perceptions of the disease and its research funding. Will other advocates be able to replicate it with the same degree of success, or will it take another perfect storm? / Department of Journalism

The purpose of this quantitative study was to survey Liberal Arts II Colleges nationally to determine the strategic marketing orientation adopted by these small, private colleges. A random sample of 198 Liberal Arts II schools were surveyed. Three top administrators at each school, the president, academic dean, and admissions officer, received the mailed surveys. The research instrument - the Academic Marketing Strategy Survey - combined questions on institutional characteristics, administrators' perceptions of the acceptability and effectiveness of college marketing programs, and the Marketing Index for Higher Education (Kotler, 1977).Findings showed little or no relationship between measures of college "success" (enrollment trend, and trend in quality of the student body), and either level of college strategic orientation, or administrators' perceptions of the acceptability and effectiveness of college marketing programs. Discriminant analysis produced some statistically significant relationships between the following institutional characteristics and other variables:1.In geographic regions with fewer Liberal Arts II colleges,admissions officers were more enthusiastic about marketingprograms in their colleges;For the smaller Liberal Arts II colleges, annual strategic planning may be problematic in its ability to produce clear and comprehensive marketing strategy.Recommendations for further research include investigating- why marketing programs seem well-accepted among administrators, while bearing so little relationship to measures of success. Correlating perceptions and levels of marketing orientation with "success" variables may be too simplistic. / Department of Educational Leadership

Chapter One introduces the "HIV Stops With Me" campaign, research by communication scholars on how HIV/AIDS messages are channeled, cultural influences, and the target audience of these messages in order to answer: What is the "HIV Stops With Me" campaign saying about individuals infected with HIV?Chapter Two describes the cluster analysis developed by Kenneth Burke. The steps in cluster analysis are: 1) identifying the key terms in the rhetoric, 2) charting the terms that cluster around the key terms, 3) discovering emergent patterns in the clusters, and 4) naming the motive, or situation, based on the meanings of the key terms.Chapter Three is a cluster analysis of the 2002 San Francisco "HIV Stops With Me" campaign. Key terms found in this analysis are "HIV," "sex," "life/living," and "death/dying."Chapter Four contains conclusions pertaining to the analysis of the rhetorical artifact, conclusions for cluster analysis, and future implications for academic scholarship. / Department of Communication Studies

The problem of this study was to determine the status of marketing activities among four-year, publicly-controlled institutions of higher education in the United States. A survey was conducted of all 549 four-year, publicly controlled institutions listed in the 1980 Education Directory. Questionnaires were mailed to those administrators whose titles implied public relations responsibilities. This group of respondents was presumed to comprise the individuals who were most likely to be knowledgeable about marketing activities in their institutions. Responses were received from 364 (66.3 per cent) of the officers, who represented 364 institutions from 49 states.