College of Health and Human Sciences Public Relations Unit Self-Study
I.
Mission and Functional Responsibilities
A. What is the mission of the unit (and its subunits, if applicable)? Is
the mission consistent with the present missions and strategic plans
of the division and the university? How is the mission
communicated to unit staff and constituents?
The public relations unit is charged with promoting the
College of Health and Human Sciences and the six
academic units housed within the college. (These units are
the Departments of Cardiopulmonary Care Sciences,
Criminal Justice, Nutrition and Physical Therapy as well as
the Schools of Nursing and Social Work. Also included are
two centers, the National Center on Grandparents Raising
Grandchildren and Project Healthy Grandparents. This
Public Relations Unit also assists the university-wide
Institute of Public Health when appropriate.)
The mission is consistent with the present missions of both
the College of Health and Human Sciences and Georgia
State University. The mission is communicated to the unit
staff and constituents via the college’s strategic plan.
B. What are the functional responsibilities of the unit, and to whom
does the unit report?
The responsibility of the unit is promotion of the college
which may be accomplished through a variety of both paid
and unpaid publicity. The public relations unit handles all
promotional and marketing support efforts for the College of
Health and Human Sciences and it subunits. This includes
production of alumni, donor and student recruitment
collateral materials (brochures, flyers, displays); placement
and production of paid advertisements; consulting with units
to develop student recruitment marketing plans; writing and
placement of press releases; and providing media access to
faculty experts. The unit handles all special events on the
college level including annual student honors events,
graduation events, luncheons for Project Healthy
Grandparents, dean’s board of advisors meetings and
activities and featured public lecture events.
The unit administratively reports to the director of
development for the College of Health and Human
Sciences. Because the unit was established to serve the
needs of the dean of the college, the unit has an indirect
report to this position as well.
C. How does the unit compare with similar units at peer institutions
(e.g., Urban 13+) in terms of structure, responsibilities, size, and
budget? Note: if additional institutions are used for comparison,
define the criteria used to select them.
(Please note: University Relations, the central public
relations office for Georgia State, has included a
comparison of Georgia State’s public relations unit with
peer institutions. For this reason, the college unit has been
asked to supply an internal comparison only.)
The public relations unit can be compared to similar units
within Georgia State University. The College of Health and
Human Sciences public relations unit is one of the smaller
units within the university, consisting of a full-time public
relations specialist and a part-time graduate assistant (one
appointment).
While responsibilities vary from college to college
throughout the university, this unit’s responsibilities
compare closely with the College of Education, a college of
similar size and structure.
Other colleges within the university, such as the College of
Arts and Sciences and the College of Business, have larger
public relations units with two and three full-time
employees, respectively. These colleges also have a direct
report to the dean of the college.
All the unit’s budgetary needs have been met.
II.
Goals and Objectives
A. What are the unit’s goals and objectives? Are they consistent with
the defined mission and functional responsibilities of the unit?
What is the unit’s method of developing goals/objectives and
communicating them to unit staff and constituents?
Primary goals are:
- to provide communications support to the college and its
subunits for student recruitment and retention
- to define and establish the college’s identity
- to bring recognition to the college’s research and
community service efforts
These goals, which are consistent with the mission and
functional responsibilities of the unit, were developed from
the college’s strategic plan.
B. To what extent have the present goals and objectives been
achieved? What are the unit’s notable accomplishments? How is
achievement measured? Does measurement include feedback from
the providers and recipients of the service/product?
The ongoing goal of providing communication support to
the college and its subunits has been achieved in a variety
of visible ways. The most prominent sign of
communication support is the completion of student
recruitment brochures for each academic department or
school within the college. Several departments have
revised their original brochures. In addition, advertising
efforts have been increased and recruitment fair materials
(such as displays) have been created for several units. The
public relations unit now produces at least two advertising
campaigns each year, predominately focused on both
Georgia State and other outside college/university
publications.
While there is no formal tool for measuring the satisfaction
of the subunits that employ the public relations unit’s skills
and knowledge, both the unit and the dean of the college
continue to receive positive comments from
department/school chairs on the promotional services
offered by the public relations unit.
In addition, the public relations unit has conducted surveys
of incoming students at the start of the academic year. The
students have responded positively to the increased use of
recruitment brochures and advertisements.
As for the second goal, to increase college name
recognition, this recognition has increased considerably
within the Georgia State University community since the
establishment of the public relations unit in March 2000.
In addition, outside constituents including potential
students, general alumni, media and business
organizations recognize the college’s name and academic
departments and are directly calling upon the college. One
example of this increased visibility is the 93% increase in
undergraduate applications to the School of Nursing for
academic year 2002-2003.
C. Is the reward structure aligned with the unit’s goals and objectives?
Yes, achievement of goals and objectives are evaluated
during the annual review period with reward applied
appropriately.
III.
Services Provided to Community
A. What services/products does the unit provide? To what groups/
individuals are these provided: students? staff? faculty? alumni?
others? How does the unit make potential clients aware of
available services/products?
The public relations unit provides the following services to
the college: development and production of all college
print materials including recruitment brochures, college
fact sheets, internal and external newsletters, invitations
and announcements and other collateral material as
necessary. The unit provides marketing consultation for
the college and the Office of Academic Assistance (OAA), by
meeting with OAA to brainstorm, conducting student
surveys, and placing advertisements in student
publications for both new and existing courses. The unit
also provides media relations services for the dean
including contacting media, fielding inquiries, and
maintaining a clipping file. The unit handles all aspects of
special event planning for the dean and college from
securing space, working with food service and other
vendors, printing and mailing invitations, and all
miscellaneous logistical tasks before and during an event.
These events include the dean’s board of advisors
meetings, the college’s portion of the annual legislative
reception, the college’s Honors Day program, graduation
receptions, the dean’s Project Healthy Grandparents
luncheon, and the new lecture series, which is open to the
GSU community, alumni and friends and the general public.
The public relations unit provides most of the same
services to the college’s departments and schools via their
respective chairpersons, including print material
coordination and production, media relations, and
marketing and advertising assistance. The one exception
is that the unit provides only consultative assistance in
planning special events for the subunits.
The public relations unit provides editorial and publication
services to the Director of Development. The unit edits all
grant proposals, inquiries and thank you letters,
memorandums of understanding and supporting materials
accompanying proposals. In addition, the unit develops,
coordinates and produces printed materials required by the
college’s development office for both general and
scholarship fundraising.
The unit provides limited services to the general college
faculty and staff. These services are primarily consultative
with some light additional assistance offered in the area of
print production and advertising, particularly pertaining to
academic programs.
The unit provides services to students, potential students,
alumni and the general public with information regarding
the college and its degree programs and research and
community service activities. The unit does not offer
services directly to student organizations within the
college.
The unit makes its services known to the department
chairpersons via personal contact. Whenever a new chair
or department leader joins the college, the unit meets with
the person to introduce the public relations unit and its
services.
B. How are services prioritized and scheduled, and by whom? Do any
laws, regulations, or other requirements external to the university
impact the provision of services/products? If so, please identify.
Services provided by the unit are prioritized by the unit and
director of development with final approval by the college
dean.
Laws and regulations that impact the unit are in three
primary areas: purchasing regulations, copyright laws and
information disclosures and open records access. The
public relations specialist in the unit is a 15-year veteran of
the University System of Georgia and is well acquainted
with the purchasing regulations. In addition, she works
closely with the college’s business managers to assure
adherence to purchasing regulations as they affect public
relations activities. In the area of copyright, the public
relations specialist has completed course work in
communications law and has access to university experts
to aid in this area. For issues of information disclosure and
access, the unit relies on the expertise of the director of
University Relations.
C. How does the unit make the community aware of priorities,
policies, and procedures?
Prior to accepting new work from any of its constituents,
the unit alerts the client to current priorities. If necessary,
the unit will ask the dean to reinforce the priorities.
D. How does the unit learn about the community’s needs and obtain
feedback regarding service delivery? How well are clients’ needs
defined and met? In this section include information collected from
the focus group. Note: For units that do not have an ongoing
system for identifying community needs and receiving community
feedback, please include your plan for implementing such a system
and discuss how this information will be used by the unit.
The college community’s needs are discovered via regular
dialogue with the clients. Frequent meetings are scheduled
with the dean to determine her needs from the public
relations unit. Feedback is given both formally and
informally.
E. Are there services/products that clients need which the unit cannot
provide? What would the unit need to be able to provide these?
The public relations unit cannot provide comprehensive
multimedia program assistance. Beyond the scope of basic
presentations (i.e., PowerPoint) the unit does not possess
the skills or the knowledge to properly coordinate
extensive multimedia projects.
Additional training and time to gain a full knowledge of
multimedia program options would allow the unit to better
provide consultation and coordination with clients and
vendors.
IV.
Structure, Organization, and Climate
A. What is the unit’s organizational structure? (Please provide an
organizational chart.) Is this form of organization appropriate to
meeting the unit’s goals and objectives? Do all critical staff
functions have a backup?
The unit’s organization structure is reflected on the
attached organizational chart. Because the unit is
primarily a one person unit, there is no assigned backup for
the staff. However, the dean may call on other dean’s
office staff to assist in critical functions. In addition, the
services of University Relations may be employed in case of
need.
B. For any services/products provided by the unit in conjunction with
other units within the university, please describe the relationship.
How is the work coordinated between or among units? How can
such relations be facilitated?
Many services provided by the unit are in conjunction with
other units within the university. Primarily, the unit works
closely with University Relations for both media relations
and graphic design. The public relations specialist
coordinates with the two PR professionals in University
Relations that are assigned to cover the College of Health
and Human Sciences. Before any media pitches are
developed, the unit meets with the University Relations
representatives to divide the tasks.
The unit also calls on the creative services department of
University Relations for many graphic design needs. Most
of the college’s departments and schools collateral material
has been designed by University Relations under the
direction of the college public relations unit.
C. Are duplicate or parallel services offered within the unit or
elsewhere in the university? Describe any overlap and discuss
what changes might be indicated (e.g., centralization, coordination,
elimination of duplication).
While University Relations is the central public relations
office for the University, through careful coordination
between this central office and the college unit, there is
little overlap or duplication of services. The college’s public
relations unit focuses solely on the needs of the College of
Health and Human Sciences and it subunits. University
Relations is responsible for serving the entire university; its
resources are frequently stretched to the limit. In addition,
the University Relations office only offers media relations
and graphic arts services to the individual colleges. Little
writing and no advertising/marketing or event planning
services are offered so the individual colleges must handle
these tasks internally.
D. What are the unit’s planning, decision-making, and evaluation
processes. Who is involved in each?
Prior to beginning any project, the public relations unit
meets with the college faculty or staff person requesting
public relations services. Together, they determine the
goals of the project and establish a timeline for work
completion. Budgetary requirements are discussed if
relevant. Projects and events of a large scale are also
analyzed after completion for evaluation of efforts. This
procedure is followed for all clients requesting the public
relations assistance.
E. Are work responsibilities clearly defined? How are these
determined?
Yes, the responsibilities are clearly defined. They are based
on the scope of the college’s overall public relations needs.
F. What is the general morale, attitude, and culture of the unit? What
measures are taken to ensure that the unit is appropriately
sensitive to the cultural backgrounds of staff and clients?
Morale within in the unit is generally excellent. As the unit
is within a culturally and racially diverse college, sensitivity
to these issues is part of the climate within the dean’s
office.
V.
Resources
A. Provide a budget allocation and expenditure summary for the past
five fiscal years, and a copy of your most recent internal audit. In
addition, for each of the core activities identified in IB, indicate how
resources are spent on each of these activities. To what extent
does the budget allocation and its utilization allow unit goals and
objectives to be realized? What is the decision-making process for
the distribution of budget allocations?
N/A
B. What is the space, facilities, and technology allocation? To what
extent does the allocation and its utilization allow unit goals and
objectives to be realized.
The public relations unit is housed in the College of Health
and Human Sciences dean’s office suite on the 8th floor of
the Urban Life Building. While office space for the unit is
sufficient, storage space for unit materials is not. Because
the unit must store printed materials, college displays and
special event items as well as promotional items, more
storage is needed. Currently, many of these items are
stored in the unit’s office space. Additional items are
stored in a small space in the basement of Kell Hall.
With the recent addition of a new computer for the public
relations specialist, the technology allocation for the unit is
more than sufficient for the next couple of years. However,
resources should be continually allocated for the future
technology needs of the unit.
C. Do employee skills match the unit’s needs? Is additional training or
cross-training necessary? If so, what kind? Is there a regular
mechanism for providing training?
Employee’s skills match the unit’s needs. However,
additional training is constantly sought after to remain
current with the latest trends and techniques.
D. What changes could be made to produce greater efficiencies or
economies of scale (e.g., reduction, modification, or elimination of
paperwork; structural reorganization)? What constraints (e.g.,
resources, personnel, technology) must the unit address to achieve
these?
None at this time.
VI.
Summary of Report and Strategic Directions
A. Overall, what are the unit’s greatest strengths? How can the unit
leverage the strengths that already exist? Can the strengths be
improved upon?
The unit’s greatest strengths include strong overall
leadership and exceptional public relations staff,
satisfactory budget, good team work in conjunction will all
constituents, strong reliance by college faculty and staff of
the unit for public relations expertise.
B. What areas need improvement, and what recommendations can
address these?
1. What, if any, changes are indicated in the unit’s current
mission, goals, and objectives? (Section I)
2. What, if any, changes are indicated in the ways that the
achievement of goals and objectives is measured? (Section
II)
3. What, if any, changes are indicated in the
services/products provided to clients by the unit? (Section
III)
The unit needs to have greater capability to provide
writing services particularly in the arena of grant
proposal writing. Other areas of writing needed by
the development arm of the college, such as case
statements, are also needed.
4. What, if any, changes are indicated in the unit’s
organizational structure, processes, and climate? (Section
IV)
5. What, if any changes are indicated in the unit’s resources
(budget, space, staffing, technology, etc.)? (Section V)
The addition of a full-time writer to support the
dean’s and development needs.
C. Review the recommendations derived from B1-5 above. What
priorities among these areas should be set? What is a realistic
timetable for the achievement of the recommendations (1-, 3-, 5years)? Within each time frame, prioritize the recommendations.
How does the unit plan to monitor progress? Note: For the
purpose of addressing this question, a chart that utilizes the
following headings will suffice.
One-year goals
Prioritized recommendation(s)
Measures of progress
1. Regular system for updating outdated college and
department publications
2. Provide additional assistance in areas of development
writing
3. Regular communication with college alumni
4. System for donor recognition
Three-year goals
Prioritized recommendation(s)
Measures of progress
1. Integrated communications and development plan
2. Establish a canned tour of college research and
instructional facilities for potential donors, dignitaries,
media, etc.
3. Incorporate planned giving messages into all publications
directed at alumni and friends
Five-year goals
Prioritized recommendation(s)
Measures of progress
1. Regularly scheduled college alumni events
2. Establish a preview program for high school students
considering a major in any of the college’s six academic
areas.