Three University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) faculty members have contributed to the Commission on Public Relations Education’s (CPRE) 2023 Signature Report, Navigating Change: Recommendations for Advancing Undergraduate Public Relations Education. The College’s Public Relations Department was one of five sponsors of the report, and the only sponsor from higher education.

Public Relations faculty members Marcia DiStaso, professor and associate dean for research, Spiro Kiousis, professor and executive associate dean, and Mickey Nall, professional in residence, all contributed to the report from inception, to focus groups, to development of the survey instrument, to the fielding and promotion of the survey to industry professionals and public relations educators.

DiStaso is a former CPRE chair, Kiousis is an at-large trustee and Nall is co-chair of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Educational Affairs Committee and a CPRE trustee.

The report, which will be released on Nov. 3 in Chicago at CPRE’s 50th Anniversary celebration, highlights seven areas that practitioners and educators identified as critical to pre-professional preparation in the post-pandemic environment:

1. The Future of the Public Relations Workplace
2. Essential Knowledge, Skills and Abilities and the Six-Course Standard
3. Critical Strategic Thinking
4. Data Insights and Strategy
5. Ethics
6. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
7. PR as a Driver of Social Change

The report is used by the Accrediting Council on Education in Mass Communication for their accreditation standards for public relations programs, and by PRSA for certification of public relations education programs.

The Commission on Public Relations Education, the authoritative voice on public relations education, was founded in 1973 by the Public Relations Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and the Public Relations Society of America to address the quality of public relations education in the United States.

Posted: October 20, 2023
Category: College News
Tagged as: Commission on Public Relations Education, CPRE, Marcia DiStaso, MIckey Nall, Public Relations, Spiro Kiousis