College of Journalism and Communications Department of Public Relations 2085 Weimer Hall PO Box 118400 Gainesville, FL 32611‐8400 352‐273‐1220 Tel 352‐273‐1227 Fax2 University of Florida
Department of Public Relations
2013 Spring Advisory Council Business Meeting
Monday, March 25, 2013
Council Members/Special Guests in Attendance: Debbie Mason, Karen Jones, Bob Grupp,
Natalie Asorey, Jacqueline Bond, Margaret Gaylord, Frank Ovaitt, Amy Gravina, Del
Galloway, Nancy Fullerton, Deborah Charnes, Craig Dezern, Claudia Panfil, Erin Hart, Susan
Towler, Bill Imada, Iliana Rodriguez and Jay Magee.
Public Relations Faculty in Attendance: Juan Carlos Molleda (Department Chair), Ann
Christiano, Spiro Kiousis, Mary Ann Ferguson, Deanna Pelfrey, Moon Lee and Linda Hon.
I.
Opening Comments: Debbie Mason, the Council Chair, welcomed the members and thanked
them for being present. She then asked the members to go around the room introduce
themselves since a few members had just joined the council. Dr. Molleda also thanked the
members for their presence at the meeting.
II.
Approval of Minutes: Amy Gravina moved to approve the minutes from the Fall 2012
Advisory Council meeting and Susan Towler second the motion. A vote was taken by the
Advisory Council members present. All were in favor and no one was opposed or abstained.
III.
State of the Department Report: Mason introduced Dr. Molleda, who presented the state of
the department report. Dr. Molleda said he had recently accepted the position as the Interim
Chair for the department, and he thanked Dr. Kiousis for his work as Department Chair. He
then briefly introduced the new council members, and spoke about the accomplishments and
promotions of the department’s faculty and students. Dr. Molleda also spoke about the
department’s national search for the new Department Chair, which is led by Dr. Linda Hon.
Dr. Molleda spoke to the council about the programs that are being developed and advanced
by the department. These programs included Ann Christiano’s efforts to advance public
interest communications through the FRANK conference and the soon-to-come Change
Communications Certificate program. He said these initiatives are important because there is
a need to increase the number of students in the department and to create an interest in public
interest communications in the university. Dr. Molleda also spoke about the focus on distance
and online education and the two proposals for faculty size and compensation the department
will present to the dean. Dr. Molleda said the department continues to manage enrolment and
adapt to the new budgetary system. He spoke of the challenge to balance between adjuncts
teaching assistants and full time faculty and of the concern for the faculty to student ratio.
The Foundation for The Gator Nation An Equal Opportunity Institution Mason asked if there was a benchmark to what a good ratio was. Dr. Hon addressed the
question and said the department is at the edge of what is allowed by the accreditation of the
program. Dr. Molleda said the department is trying to have more faculty members who work
full time. Jay Magee asked about massive open online courses. Dr. Molleda answered that the
university had called for proposals and only approved five of them, one from the College of
Journalism and Communications. Bill Imada asked about the study abroad programs that were
offered. Ann Christiano answered that in the past the college has held programs in Spain,
Greece and Italy. Both Dr. Molleda and Deanna Pelfrey have taught abroad. Dr. Kiousis
mentioned that, in ten years, the program has gone from none existent to the largest in the
university and that one of the main advantages of the program is that it does not delay
graduation because the classes are taught by the college’s faculty. Bill Imada also asked about
the percentage of international students. Dr. Molleda answered that at the graduate level the
percentage is high, but at the undergraduate level the numbers are not significant. To
conclude, Debbie Mason thanked Dr. Molleda for the presentation and Dr. Kiousis for his
work as department chair.
IV.
PRSSA Alpha Chapter Report: Debbie Mason introduced Jacqueline Bond, the president of
PRSSA, and thanked Deanna Pelfrey and Craig Dezern for their work advising PRSSA and
the Bateman Team. Jacqueline Bond spoke of #developyourself, the topic the executive
board chose to develop its speaker series. She explained how PRSSA was pushing to open the
organization to students in different majors at the university and had expanded its membership
to 230 members. She said PRSSA had expanded its committees and increased committee
involvement by 60 percent. Jacqueline Bond also spoke of the new online strategy PRSSA
had adopted to revamp its online presence. She also mentioned the awards the chapter had
received and its accomplishments over the past year.
Jacqueline Bond then introduced Natalie Asorey, managing director of Alpha PRoductions.
Nataalie Asorey mentioned the firm’s growth and its record setting clients and revenue. She
said the firm sought to provide students with more opportunities to take leadership positions
and help them develop professionally.
Bond then acknowledged the Bateman Team and praised them for their hard work. She
opened the floor questions. Imada asked about the budget for an Alpha PRoductions
campaign. Natalie Asorey answered that the firm does not accept campaigns for less than
$2,000, which allows the students to learn how to manage the budget. Deanna Pelfrey
mentioned the firm had brought in nearly $20,000 in revenue, and Ann Christiano said the
firm was the backbone of the FRANK conference planning.
V.
Development Report: Margaret Gaylord spoke about the Florida Tomorrow campaign,
which raised $1.7 billion for the university and exceeded the $1.2 billion goal. She said that as
a college the goal was to raise $27 million and fundraised a little over $20 million. She
mentioned how the three deans and the three development offices are working together to be
consistent. Margaret Gaylord also spoke about the next step fundraising step, called Florida
Next. She mentioned the efforts the college is making to provide more spaces for students and
integrate the current spaces for all the students. She explained that the Wright Innovation
Scholarship will give students the opportunity to finance their education or ensure travel
funds, etc. She also said the college is focused on working to increase faculty. She said every
metric that they look at tells them that the college needs more faculty members to be as
competitive as it can be. Funding is needed to provide more faculty members who can enrich
students. She asked the council to help by giving personally to make a difference, helping
identify people who have a passion to give to the university, and develop a gift plan. The floor
was opened for discussion. The council then discussed on ideas to develop its own campaign
to raise funds.
VI.
Council Committee Reports:
 Designated gifts- Ron Sachs, the incoming committee chair was not present at the
meeting. Instead, Debbie Mason spoke about the development plan the committee
prepared with a three prong approach, which Margaret Gaylord will vet. She said the
council is there for the faculty and will provide what the faculty needs so the program can
remain as a top program in the nation. The floor was opened for discussion, and Deborah
Charnes said there was a need to develop a system to keep in touch between sessions.
Amy Gravina added that there is a gap of information because the members do not always
know what the faculty needs from the council. Ideas to fund and provide professional
development for the faculty were discussed. Erin Hart mentioned the importance of
communicating the needs of the faculty throughout the year. Debbie Mason suggested a
Facebook page as a solution to the communication gap, and Dr. Molleda volunteered to
identify faculty needs and share them with the council members.

Future Trends- Karen Jones spoke about the importance of understanding new mediums
of communications for PR practitioners. She said there is a need for the faculty to help
identify the topics that are important to students. She also explained that the next panel
session will focus on international backgrounds, and that the committee wants to tap into
the international experience of the council members. She said the council would
contribute by focusing on what the trend in the international arena is. The committee
hopes to expose undergraduate students to the potential that international public relations
offers. The faculty was welcomed to participate in the future trends panel along with the
students. She also invited the members to join the future trends committee.

Internships- Amy Gravina gave a quick overview of the internship program. She
mentioned that every fall the department reached out to graduate students to participate in
internship program over the summer, spring or fall semesters. She explained that council
members complete a form that says they are interested in hosting a graduate student for an
internship in their company. Debbie Mason said the graduate students delivered high
quality work, and Dr. Kiousis added that suggestions for other organizations where
opportunities may be offered would be appreciated. Mary Ann Ferguson spoke briefly
about the challenges graduate students face finding internships in the U.S. because the
majority of them are from abroad. Amy Gravina concluded by inviting the members to
join the committee. Claudia Panfil accepted the invitation.
VII.
VIII.

Nominating Committee- Susan Towler spoke briefly. She said the role is to recommend
advisory council members to the faculty and nominate officers.

Communications Committee- Jay Magee said the committee is preparing pre and post
meeting newsletters. He spoke about decommissioning the advisory council website and
using the Facebook page. Magee invited the members to join the committee and help
develop a strategy to keep everyone informed. The committee will work on developing
opportunities for PRSSA to have a bigger speaker pool. Nancy Fullerton and Erin Hart
agreed to help the committee.

Bateman Committee- On behalf of Craig Dezern, Deanna Pelfrey spoke about the
Bateman Team, and explained how the council is involved in the selection committee for
the team. She also explained how the students receive credit for their participation in the
team. She thanked Dr. Hon for her support with the Bateman studio. She also thanked
Craig Dezern for serving as advisor to the team and providing more opportunities. Deann
Pelfrey proposed that more council members become involved with the team, particularly
with the brainstorming and research phases, and participate in tutorial sessions over
Skype.

Department Research Support- Bob Grupp mentioned that the research committee would
love to have new members. He said supporting grad student research is one of the
committee’s primary objectives. The Advisory Council can help by contributing and
critiquing ideas as well as contributing with funding. Kang Hung Sung was introduced to
the council. He briefly described his research proposal, which is part of his dissertation, on
how organizations can use social networking sites to communicate with their publics.
Sung petitioned support from the council to finance a consumer panel. Bill Imada offered
to support Kang Hung Sung’s research.
Dates for Fall 2013 Meeting: The members held a vote and selected November 4 and
November 5 as the dates for the next meeting.
Other Business: None
Meeting Adjourned.
Submitted by Marianella Tello
Student Assistant
Department of Public Relations