M.S. in Public Relations
and Corporate Communication

REAL WORLD CONNECTIONS: THE PRACTICUM

Spring 2007 was the first term in which we offered the Practicum and Capstone project. This is an overview of the generally excellent work by our students in the Practicum.

The Practicum course objective calls for the student or student team to prepare and initiate a communication plan that meets an actual need of a real organization. This is one of the distinguishing features of our graduate program. Our first Practica included:

UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL COMPACT
Louisa Bargeron, Lauren Isenman, and Megan McGinnis developed a communication plan to promote the July 2007 Leadership Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. The goal of the summit is to attract about 1,000 chief executive officers to plan human rights campaigns, which is the mission of the UN Global Compact. SCPS academic director Renee Harris and M.S. in Public Relations and Corporate Communication program director John Doorley recently attended the team’s final presentation at the UN, and the reaction was best summed up by Global Compact director Matthias Stausberg: “We expect to achieve our ambitious objectives in Geneva, thanks in no small part to the NYU team.”

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANCY ORGANIZATION  (ICCO)
Established in 1988, ICCO is the voice of public relations consultancies across the world. In order to help ICCO redefine its single-brand vision, the student team of Sarah Margulies, Keisha Holder, and Mingzhi Yang designed and conducted a comprehensive organizational audit that will guide ICCO's future direction and growth. The audit included surveys of member firms, interviews with board members, and analyses of similar and competing organizations. Professor Lou Capozzi is the president of ICCO and presented the team's final report to the organization's board of management in May 2007.

THE NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY
Kim Goei-Okon developed a plan to increase the national and international visibility of this orchestra, which is highly regarded but little known outside of its geographical area.

TRIBECA FILM CENTER
Julie Mlakar developed a communication plan including tactics to promote use of the screening room.

DISASTER CHAPLAINCY SERVICES
Oxana Trush developed a strategic plan to build a strong identity of DCS among its audiences, capitalizing on its leading position as a provider of disaster spiritual care in the New York tri-state area.

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH INSTITUTES (NDRI)
Kathleen Gibson developed a communication plan to enhance NDRI’s organizational identity and increase visibility for its behavioral research, education, and outreach among its 200-plus employees and the public health community. This Practicum client, the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., was brought to us by NYU’s George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising.

LOGOS CONSULTING GROUP
Laurel Hart developed recommendations for best practices in pandemic flu communication, based on research of existing plans and case studies of past epidemics. The recommendations outlined the best communication practices, both in preparation for and during a pandemic. Her work will be used in a variety of client applications.

O'DWYER'S PR
Based on over three decades of publication and readership, O'Dwyer's is the premier trade publication for the public relations industry. Patrick Guinaw worked directly with Jack O'Dwyer, founder and editor, to research, analyze, and create a strategic plan to market odwyerpr.com to a previously unexplored audience, undergraduate college students.