The Foundation for The Gator Nation
An Equal Opportunity Institution
College of Journalism and Communications
Department of Public Relations
2085 Weimer Hall
PO Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611‐8400
352.273.1220
352.273.1227 Fax
University of Florida
Department of Public Relations
2011 Spring Advisory Council Business Meeting
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Council Members/Special Guests in Attendance: John Deveney, Susan Towler, Kathy Barbour, Julie
Spechler, Jay Magee, Amy Gravina, Bob Grupp, Justin Root, Joe Hice, Grace Leong, David Morse, Erin
Hart, Chris Ahearn and Jenn Moyer.
Public Relations Faculty in Attendance: Spiro Kiousis (Department Chair), Kathleen Kelly, Belio Martinez, Juan
Carlos Molleda, Sora Kim, Ann Christiano, Deanna Pelfrey.
I.
Opening Comments
Dr. Kiousis welcomed everyone and mentioned that we have a very ambitious schedule. John Deveney
mentioned that we are trying to change the format for the committee meetings this time based on feedback we
got from last year’s meeting. As a result, we are going to hear from some of the committees and we are then
going to meet in smaller groups later today for the break out dinners. Dr. Kiousis thanked everyone for being
here and for the work they all did before hand to get to this point.
II. Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Joe Hice to approve the minutes from the Fall 2010 meeting and Bob Grupp seconded
the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously by the present Advisory Council members.
III. State of the Department Report
Dr. Kiousis took a moment to introduce Quenta Vattel. She then addressed the group and discussed how she is
thrilled to be back on campus and working here after having been an adjunct. She mentioned that she had been
at the college for about 5 wks now and that her first order of business was to put together a Communigator. She
told the group that they should be receiving this soon in the mail. She also mentioned that she is going to
redesign the college website and do an intranet for the college faculty/staff. She closed by telling the group how
much she looked forward to working all of them and that if they need to reach out to her at any time she would
be available.
Dr. Kiousis proceeded with his presentation on the State of the Department. (Dr. Kiousis’ presentation is
attached)
He mentioned that he would appreciate help from the group with distance education. Specifically in the areas of
student recruitment, identifying instructors, & identifying areas for program development. Susan Towler asked
about Faculty student ratios and what numbers are ideal. Dr. Kelly mentioned that the standard for certification
is 20:1 for skilled courses and ideally would be 30:1 for our department. Deanna Pelfrey mentioned that we
have a group looking at undergraduate curriculum for possible revisions. She explained that adjustments were
made at the Graduate level and for our in residence PR program. He wrapped up and asked if there were any
questions.
Susan asked if the professionals can help with accreditation and he said yes they could help with feedback on the
surveys from SACS. David Morse asked “Do we know the criteria for accreditation?” and he also asked who
would be on the team. Dr. Kiousis said that they will be deciding on the team and we as a department have
some input. In January they do a 3 day visit on campus and provide an initial assessment and then there is a
large council meeting. Julie Spechler asked if she could see the research that the faculty members submitted.
Dr. Kiousis said that in the packet there are abstracts of the research the faculty is doing.
IV. PRSSA Alpha Chapter Report
PRSSA President, Erika Zayas, presented and welcomed everyone.
She mentioned that the chapter has made some changes because they wanted people passionate about the
chapter and as a result they revamped the election process for the executive board of PRSSA. She mentioned
that voting for next year will take place in just a couple of weeks from now. They developed a new program
called Alpha Families where they break the members out into groups of 15 or less, this way the experience can
be more personalized. Ms. Zayas also mentioned to the group that the Alpha Chapter will be hosting the
National PRSSA Conference in Orlando Oct. 14-18, 2011. The group wants a more creative approach this year
and so they are replacing the opening social with a Carnival event. They are creating an invitation and asking
the conference attendees to wear a mask. They are replacing the programming line-up and since it is in Orlando,
they are thinking creatively. They have a series of Skype chats with chapters around the country which are
already taking place. The team of students traveled and gave presentations around the country. Sponsorships is
another important part of this process and we have to raise $46K for the conference. Disney is going to sponsor
the Carnival and we are working on a premier sponsor for the rest of the conference. She also mentioned that
Alpha Productions is rebranding.
V. Council Committee Reports
Designated Gifts – Debbie Mason was not present. Dr. Kiousis said that we have used the funds raised $750
was the average gift given.
Future Trends – Chris Ahearn spoke and wanted to do something interactive and so they put out a survey on the
social media website and have received some responses which they will present tomorrow. PR Future Trends is
the tag via the twitter page and she presented a report on the webpage.
Internships – Dr. Kiousis spoke on behalf of Del Galloway to say that he was delighted to report that they had
two matches and successfully placed two students. They are very excited that it is a unique internship
opportunity for our graduate students and it has an impact on a future PR professional. It has been exclusively
for Doctoral students but they would be interested in expanding it to Master students. He also mentioned that
they encourage that they are compensated if possible. John Deveney asked if the paid internship amounts have
increased any and Dr. Kiousis responded that actually it has decreased as a result of maybe the economy.
Nominating Committee – Joe Hice heads this committee and he said they work closely with Spiro and the goal
is to look for people who are interested in working with this group. We would like people to join the group at
all levels of their profession. Please let us know if you have any persons you would want to identify as potential
members.
Communications Committee –Grace Leong spoke and the group wants to thank you for participating in the
interviews which were conducted during the last meeting based on this information the website was developed
and content was added to the page from this information. The Advice section was based on the information
gathered. They would like to add new articles to the site as new topics come up. The internship section needs
more content and we would like to add more information about paid internships. Links shows places where you
could find job posting for upcoming graduates. PRSSA is now promoting this resource for the students. Amy
Gravina mentioned that maybe we could mention this to Alumni. Kathy Barbour asked if it is a direct ufl?
Grace said yes it is a direct ufl and Kathy mentioned that maybe we should add some twitter hashes to some
very helpful links.
Bateman Committee – Craig Dezern is in China and Deanna Pelfrey presented that they have been in the
competition for the last four years. They have placed in the top 15. The members are competitively selected.
The team this year is excellent and it is not always the best GPA’s in the school but we look for a balanced
group. The finalists have to do a presentation on a topic and turn it around in 2 days. Justin Root was on the
team and I think that they go on to have a great experience which prepares them to be professionals. Pelfrey
wanted to thank the group and say how wonderful Craig Dezern has been to the group. The decision on the
finalist for Bateman will be announced in April. This year they posted on their website a video of last year’s
top three finalist. They also posted the executive summaries on the website and that has been helpful but they
still have not been able to figure out what they are missing. She asked that they give the group feedback on
their presentation tomorrow.
Department Research Support – Bob Grupp presented and stated that he was very happy to have this
opportunity. This committee has a three- fold objective traditionally to give feedback on topics and to give
them access to the date and third is funding. I think we could improve by doing more between these meetings.
We spoke about what is possible for the committee and for this advisory council. We went to the notion of
relevancy of research. We talked about relevancy scores and would like to get feedback from you and the
faculty. We talked about how researchers in this department could work with other departments to develop
research that mimics the nature of how we work in the profession. Jooyun Hwang presented on the results of
her research project.
VII. Dates for Fall 2011 Meeting
The proposed dates for the Fall Advisory Council meeting are November 17th & 18th.
VIII. Other Business
Dr. Kiousis thanked everyone for attending.
Minutes approved by:
Spiro Kiousis, Ph.D., APR,
Professor and Chair
Department of Public Relations