Public schools in California have suffered severe budget cuts, causing lay-offs among teachers and support staff, class size increases, and program cuts. This thesis includes an audit of a public elementary school to determine its use of public relations practices to establish family and community partnerships. Such partnerships often channel much needed resources into schools. In-person interviews were conducted with administrators, teachers, parents and community members. Participants were asked to answer both open-and closed-ended questions. School publications were also reviewed. 6 Results showed that the school has established partnerships within the community. These partnerships were established to provide services to children without access to dental or healthcare. However, these partnerships are limited, and they impact only a small number of students. Results also show a willingness on the part of parents and community members to volunteer at the School. However, the School has not communicated that there is such a need. Suggestions are made for ways the School might use public relations to enhance outreach efforts.

This study was investigated the public relations and marketing strategy and tactics used by Micke Grove Zoo in the last five years. A case study methodology was used to answer the three research questions. The research analyzed the Zoo's past and current marketing and public relations strategy and efforts. What was collected fell into six categories: Special Exhibits, Programs, Promotional Material and Publications, Volunteer Opportunities, Events and Miscellaneous. It showed that MGZ has stopped some of the programs, events and publications, but has not implemented new ones. What they are doing has remained relatively the same for the last five years. Also, MGZ has not and does not have a public relations or marketing strategy, is not using social media and does not have regular contact with the media through press releases. The data categorized was then compared with the information collected from five experts in the field of public relations, marketing and zoos. The five professionals interviewed agreed that a zoo needs to have a marketing and public relations plan, be using social networking and updating their website, -constantly search for new audiences and stay in constant contact with the media. From the data collected a series of tactics were developed. It is suggested that MGZ try to incorporate as many of these tactics into a marketing and public relations strategy. They include, developing a marketing and public relations plan based upon the zoos mission and goals, using social media, regaining accreditation and creating and maintaining a relationship with the media.

There have been a number of studies that examine how public relations practitioners respond during a crisis. Many researchers have examined the various response strategies and the success or failure of theses methods. Because a crisis can have legal ramifications, it is important that a good working relationship between the legal staff and public relations staff exists. To better understand the relationship between the two groups and the response strategies generated during a crisis, more research in this issue is needed. This study focused on response strategies used during a racial discrimination lawsuit. The objectives of the study were to determine which strategies were used most often, and how the influence of legal staff and public relations staff determined the responses.A content analysis of newspapers found in a NexisLexis search, during the crisis period, was used to gather responses made by spokespersons. The search yielded twenty-seven usable newspaper articles and sixty-two responses from company spokespersons.Coders were trained to identify the response strategies that were defined as traditional public relations strategy, traditional legal strategy, mixed strategy and diversionary strategy. A chi-square test was used to test the hypothesis. The findings supported a balance between the use of traditional public relations strategy and traditional legal strategy.Further analysis identified a significant increase in the use of traditional public relations strategy when a public relations firm was retained to remedy the crisis situation. The study also supported a collaborative working relationship between public relations and legal counsel. / Department of Journalism

Most research studies of women in the college and university advancement profession measure the number of women in advancement positions, report their corresponding salaries and reflect on the differences between male and female employees in the same position. Little research explores how women achieve high ranking advancement positions and very few provide an analysis of the characteristics, influences and careers of successful female advancement professionals. This dissertation describes the life and work of Virginia Carter Smith, founding editor of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's award winning publication CURRENTS. The career and contributions of Virginia Carter Smith are relevant and helpful to advancement professionals in colleges, universities and K-12 institutions. This study explores Smith's formative years as a child, describes her educational and extra-curricular preparation and identifies individuals who influenced her life and provided direction for her future. It also examines Smith's role in the formation and direction of CASE and CURRENTS. Smith successfully launched CURRENTS in 1975 when few women held senior-level positions in advancement-related fields. With Smith's contributions, CASE became the dominate professional organization for advancement professionals working in educational institutions, and CURRENTS continues to be an exemplary professional development periodical for individuals working in advancement. This study also examines how Smith promoted qualified individuals, particularly women, to senior-level positions in colleges and university advancement offices. Hundreds of women and men in the profession claim that Smith's served as a role model or mentor to them. Smith contributed to the increase of women in advancement offices nationally over the last twenty years. Her high standards for herself and for other development officers helped professionalize the field for everyone.

When the polls close and the ballots are counted, the best sound is the roar of ecstatic cheering from delighted but exhausted campaign committee members. A bond campaign takes an inordinate amount of work, but the results are worth the effort when the campaign is managed in a systematic way. Districts can be successful bond recipients when they effectively market their schools to gain the support of their constituents. Public schools across the U.S. are in dire need of major repairs, remodeling, and rebuilding to meet the educational needs of students. Unfortunately, passing a school bond election is entrusted to school superintendents and other district leaders, who are often inexperienced and ill-prepared and have neither the time nor inclination to focus on tasks that take them far from their primary purpose of teaching and learning. Attaining voter support in a school bond election requires a thorough understanding of school and community issues. The literature review focuses on communication theory and research to garner support of school district's internal and external stakeholders. Communication is instrumental in passage of a construction bond election. This dissertation is theoretically grounded in problem-based learning and the research and development process. The tested product is a handbook for superintendents or other district-level administrators on strategies and practices that assist in passing a construction bond election. In the Preliminary and Main field tests, superintendents and other district leaders used the handbook in a workshop. Survey results provided summative data to assess the efficacy of the handbook and the workshop. Formative results also provided rich information to improve and revise the handbook and workshop.

This study examines the public relations efforts surrounding the popular music group the Beatles’ first United States tour in February of 1964. The evidence, acquired through the composition of a thorough case study of events, suggests that a combination of factors is responsible for their unprecedented international success: the group’s innate talent (both in terms of their craft and their ability to interact with key and intercessory publics); cultivation and maintenance of a specifically-designed image emphasizing their physical appearance, musicianship, wit, and working class background; understanding by the group’s management of the necessity of record label and major media support; the expert knowledge by said management of the media landscape, publicity opportunities, and a keen sense of appropriate timing by which significant publicity is attained. / Department of Journalism

Student-run public relations firms are part of collegiate public relations pedagogy, and this study used a mixed-method approach to analyze such firms on U.S. campuses. A listing of campuses with student-run firms was created as part of this study. Through an online survey questionnaire, advisers from 55 of the 119 student-run firms provided data about firm characteristics and observations about student learning and career development. Multiple correspondence analyses was used to see if the firms grouped into clusters and somewhat aligned with previous research by Lee Bush in 2009. Firms clustered into four groups, with the fourth group representing a mix of the other three. One additional finding was that firm characteristics are more similar than dissimilar even when comparing firms of varying years in operation. Analysis of variance to compare characteristics between different types of firms revealed that one type of firm tended to employ students at a higher average number of hours per week (F = 6.61, eta squared=0.16) and one was more likely to be accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (F = 3.71, eta squared=0.13). Advisers reported mostly positive reflections on observed transformations they see in their student workers and the value of the firm experience including how it helps students in post-graduation job attainment. Responses to a graduate questionnaire is included but, because of low response rate (N = 6), provided only cursory information.

Facing increasingly complex policy issues and diminishing citizen satisfaction with government and service performance, managing the quality of citizen relationship management has become a main challenge for public managers. Solutions to complex policy problems of service performance and low level of citizen participation often must be developed by encouraging citizens to make their voices heard through the various participation mechanisms. Reflecting on this need, the municipal governments in the U.S. have developed centralized customer systems for citizen relationship management. 311 centralized customer system (named 311 in this study) has the functions of citizen-initiated contact, service-coproduction, and transaction, and many local governments launch 311 to maintain or enhance their relationship with the public. Using 311 is an easy and free technically for citizens, but ensuring some degree of citizen engagement and citizens’ 311 use has been challenging for local public managers of municipalities. Despite calls for the importance of 311 in the service and information delivery process, fair treatment and access to use of governmental information, citizen participation, government responsiveness, and citizen satisfaction, to the best of our understanding, no empirical studies explore citizens’ 311 behaviors in the micro and individual level in the field of public administration. This dissertation provides a comprehensive understanding of the 311 centralized customer system, helps local public managers know citizens’ perceived perspectives toward the operation of 311, and assists these managers to develop an effective 311 system in municipalities. The dissertation’s main purpose is to clarify the importance of 311 to citizen relationship management and provide insights into citizens’ 311 use behaviors. More specifically, this dissertation tries to answers the following questions: a. Why do citizens use 311? Do the various groups of the population access and use 311 in San Francisco equally? If not, what factors influence the citizens’ 311 citizen-initiated contact behaviors? b. Why do citizens choose the 311 digital channel to contact with local governments? c. Why do citizens use 311 frequently? This dissertation will address these questions and draws on data from the 2011 citizen survey of City of San Francisco to explore citizens’ 311 use behaviors by examining them from citizens’ perspectives. The main arguments of each question listed above are: 1. 311 citizen-initiated contact is different from traditional citizen-initiated contact, and exposure to governmental-ICT environment, gender, income, and race are the factors influencing 311 citizen-initiated contact. 2. The digital divide, including the social side of the digital divide and access-side of the digital divide, influences citizens’ 311 channel choice. 3. Citizens’ technology acceptance, citizen satisfaction, and frequent use of public services influence the frequency of citizens’ 311 use.

The problem of this study is an investigation into the need for and possible content and design of a specialized program of study to develop proficiencies for resource development in higher education. The study has three broad purposes. The first is to determine if there is a need for the specialized preparation of educational resource development officers in higher education; secondly, to ascertain what competencies are required of professionals in this field; and, finally, to assemble those competencies into component parts of a program of study. The following results were discovered by the study. 1) A majority of experienced practicing professionals in the field of educational resource development agrees that some form of specialized preparation for new professionals is needed. 2) Practicing professionals identified and described several competencies as well as personality traits and basic skills which are required of the educational development officer. 3) A majority of experienced practicing professionals agreed on a general format for a formal program of advanced degree work that would include an internship, master's level work and would terminate with some overall form of competency evaluation

The goal of the study was to develop a framework for public relations practice in the financial services sector. The study was based on four key objectives. In line with the first objective, chapters 2 and 3 reviewed how public relations was conceptualised and practiced by reviewing literature. Three worldviews, the North American, the European and African worldviews, were discussed by looking at their similarities and differences. The literature also reviewed the development of public relations from these three perspectives. Literature revealed that different models influence practices in different cultural settings and that effective PR practice cannot be premised on a single model. Objectives 2, 3 and 4 empirically analysed the conceptualisation and practice of public relations in terms of the purpose (models) and roles (activities). The study employed the one-on-one interview technique to gauge the views of communication managers in the financial services sector. The result of the study was discussed and analysed in chapter 5. Findings showed that PR was not strategic and mostly had a marketing orientation. Significantly, most of the communication managers had marketing backgrounds, which invariably affected their concept and practice of public relations. Another key finding was that public relations measurement and evaluation was based on outputs and outtakes more than outcomes. Moreover, methods used were mostly unscientific in nature. PR strategies were based on audience satisfaction surveys rather than perception and attitudinal research. Practitioners are not part of the dominant coalition. The findings showed that practitioners faced a number of challenges that compromised the effectiveness of their work, including management’s value and perception of their work, lack of in-depth knowledge about the profession itself, budgetary constraints and inability to sometimes influence decisions because of their position in the organisational structure. The findings of the study, together with findings in the literature, were used to develop a framework for effective PR practice in the sector. The framework differs in certain aspects from some of the recommendations made by literature for excellent public relations practice. The framework also incorporates recommendations aligning to the reality of public relations practice within the Ghanaian cultural and political environment. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil.(Communication)