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Name: Amanda Hayes
Officer Title: PRSA/PRSSA Liaison
Class Standing: Senior
Hometown: Champion, Ohio
Expected Graduation Date: December 2009
What do you like do in your spare time? I like to work out, read and watch old movies.
Where would you like to travel? Italy
If you were an ice cream flavor, which one would you be and why?
Vanilla is my favorite flavor, but I think of myself as more of a rainbow sherbet girl.
What was your favorite childhood toy?
A turtle with a sailor hat that rolled around on a string leash or my Glo Worm.
What are your goals for PRSSA this year?
Strengthen relationships between PRSSAKent and local PRSA Chapters.
Have you had any internship experience? Delphi Corporation and Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Describe what you do in your internship?
I do employee relations, internal communications, generate intranet content, work with teams in other countries, media relations and I help other departments with communications projects.
What type of job do you hope to have as a PR practitioner?
I love the corporate environment and would like to pursue an international or law-based aspect of PR.
Did you attend the Poynter KSU Media Ethics Workshop?
Senior public relations majors, Kim Rodia and Alyssa Conner, at the workshop.
Members of the Poynter Institute and media professionals from broadcast, print and online came together in Franklin Hall to discuss ethical issues in social media and offer advice for students and professionals.
Students, professional journalists and Kent State faculty tweeted questions and comments that were streamed live and discussed during the workshop.
Check out the 2009 Poynter KSU Media Ethics Workshop Web site for more information.
What did you think of the workshop?
Kelly Golnoush Niknejad, founder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine TehranBureau.com, spoke about covering the news in Iran.
Welcome to PRSSA Kent!
Hello! My name is Mary Jo Spletzer, and I serve as president for the Public Relations Student Society of America at Kent State University. I wanted to take the time to welcome you to a new school year and tell you about some of the opportunities PRSSA Kent has to offer.
If this is your first time hearing about PRSSA, you should know that it is a national pre-professional public relations organization. PRSSA Kent is just one of more than 300 national chapters. Membership offers internships and job opportunities, scholarships, networking and enhanced public relations and leadership skills. PRSSA Kent is an active student organization on campus and if you haven’t already heard, we’re pretty awesome.
Our first meeting is Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. At this meeting the executive board will talk about PRSSA and how you can get involved this semester. You may want to join a committee, work on a campus campaign or find out more about the 2009 PRSSA National Conference in San Diego. This meeting will also give you a chance to ask any questions you may have about PRSSA Kent.
If you’re a declared public relations major or considering a communications-related career, I hope you will attend some of our meetings. We meet every other Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in 213 Franklin Hall. It’s a great place to make friends and mingle with other people within your major. I met two of my closest friends and now roommates at a PRSSA Kent meeting.
If you have any questions or would like more information about PRSSA Kent, please feel free to e-mail me at mspletze@kent.edu. Remember, our first meeting is Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. I hope to see you there!
Welcome to the first post on the Kent State Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) blog for the 2009-2010 school year!
My name is Brittany Senary, and I am a senior public relations major at Kent State. I am the online media manager for PRSSA Kent and I will be managing the content on this blog.
If you’re unfamiliar with PRSSA, it is a national public relations organization that provides professional development opportunities for students. PRSSA Kent is an active student organization on campus. We meet every other Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in 213 Franklin Hall. PRSSA gives you the chance to network with PR professionals in the area, enjoy good conversation with your fellow classmates, participate in networking events, get the help you need to get an internship, get tips on how to set up a portfolio and resume and it can be a place where you can get your questions answered.
During the school year, I plan to post meeting recaps, officer bios and other pertinent information on this blog. Feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me with any questions you may have.
2009-2010 PRSSA Kent Officers
President: Mary Jo Spletzer
Vice President of Public Relations: Rebecca Odell
Vice President of Professional Relations: Shantae Rollins
Vice President of Fundraising: Melissa Sidebotham
Vice President of Membership: Brittany Wasko
Treasurer: Liz Emery
Secretary: Jaclyn Roman
Online Media Manager: Brittany Senary
PRSA/PRSSA Liaison: Amanda Hayes (Fall), Stephanie Mathias (Spring)
Intercampus Liaison: Jenn Yokley
Faculty Adviser: Michele E. Ewing, APR
PRSSA Kent is proud to announce some awards we’ve received in the past few weeks. During the Center for Student Involvement Student Leadership and Honors Awards Ceremony, PRSSA won an Organization Excellence Award. This award recognizes an organization whose members have demonstrated a strong ability to promote its ideals, has used innovative methods in reaching goals and whose members have made significant contributions to Kent State.
Other PRSSA awards went to President Katelyn Luysterborg and Online Media Manager Rebecca Odell. Luysterborg received the Student Leader of the Year award, which recognizes student leaders who have contributed significantly to the leadership of the organization and whose campus participation has been outstanding.
Odell received the Cindy Bowlby Award, which was created in memory of Cindy Bowlby, a dedicated student leader at Kent. In the spirit of her ideals, this award is presented to a returning student leader who has demonstrated excellence in his or her scholarship, leadership and integrity.
President Katelyn Luysterborg, VP of PR Julie McKinney, Online Media Manager Rebecca Odell, Intercampus Liaison Noelle Pennyman, PRSA/PRSSA Liaison Deborah Pritchard and VP of Membership Brittany Thoma received Leadership Excellence Awards.
The 2009 PRSSA Kent Bateman Team was recognized with an honorable mention in this year’s Bateman competition. Out of 77 entries, only 15 received an honorable mention award. Congrats to Samantha Donegan, Amanda Hayes, Rebecca Odell, Shantae Rollins, Jenn Yokley and adviser Michele Ewing for their hard work.
PRKent seniors Katie Huntley and Julie McKinney (PRSSA Kent’s VP of PR) are finalists in ZooLoo’s summer marketing internship contest.
You’re probably asking the same question I am… What is ZooLoo?
Unfortunately, I can’t answer that question for you. The true identity of ZooLoo is a secret, and if one of these amazing PR Kent students receives the internship, they’ll be responsible for promoting it. Did I mention the internship is in sunny Phoenix?
Huntley and McKinney are two of the top seven finalists. In the final round, the PR Kent students will interview with ZooLoo, create a grasssroots plan and write a post for the ZooLoo blog.
Stay tuned to the PRSSA blog and follow us at @prssakent for more info on the final results.
As officer elections approach, you may be wondering: What the heck do PRSSA Kent officers do, anyway?
I asked each PRSSA Kent 2008-2009 executive board member to share her job description with potential officers. Here’s what I found out:
President (Katelyn Luysterborg)
The president of PRSSA Kent has his or her hand in every position. He or she helps each officer wherever possible and picks up any slack there may be. He or she is responsible for setting the agendas and conducting Darrow meetings. The president is also in contact with National Committee and is the liaison between the faculty and professional advisers of the chapter. Those eligible for president must have been an officer in a previous term.
VP of Professional Relations (Amanda Egut)
As the VP of professional relations, I am in charge of programming for the chapter. I contact professionals and invite them to speak at our events. This position requires a large time commitment and a lot of patience. Professionals are busy! Responses aren’t always quick.
Planning and organization are skills are important to this position. Communication skills with professionals, as well as group members, are also imperative.
This position is fun! You get to talk to a lot of people in different aspects of public relations that you don’t learn about in class. Be creative! This position’s only limits are the interests of the group. Be sure to bring in speakers that the chapter wants.
VP of Public Relations (Julie McKinney)
The Vice President of Public Relations is in charge of communicating with members through a variety of media. The officer is in charge of writing and sending e-mails over the PR majors listserv, creating Facebook events, contacting the Daily Kent Stater, conducting face-to-face communication through classroom presentations and creating flyers to hang in Franklin Hall. The Vice President of PR also helps manage the PR listserv list. If appropriate, the VP of PR would write press releases to send to local or industry media.
This year, I maintained constant communication with members through e-mails, signs and classroom presentations.
VP of Fundraising (Amanda Hayes)
This position is a lot of work during fall semester, and I wouldn’t recommend taking this position if your fall schedule is fairly rigorous.
The main focus for fall will be fundraising and organizing the annual Homecoming raffle and auction. The VP of Fundraising should recruit a Homecoming committee before summer break so the group can get started before classes are back in session.
Spring semester, the Fundraising VP will lead volunteer activities and organize a committee for the Relay for Life.
This position is work but it is also a lot of fun. An organized person who can delegate work and lead a group would be a good candidate for this position.
VP of Membership (Brittany Thoma)
As Vice President of Membership, my goal is to strengthen the organization by recruiting new members. I e-mail perspective members and pick them up for meetings so they don’t have to walk in to their first meeting alone. I’m also responsible for collecting the membership dues once a semester.
My position is like being the hostess at a party, I make sure you’re comfortable, having a good time and introduce you to others. If a perspective member feels welcome, she’ll be more likely to become a member of PRSSA.
Secretary (Shantae Rollins)
As the secretary for PRSSA Kent, I am required to attend all Darrow Executive Board and General meetings. During the Darrow meetings, I take the minutes from the meeting, type and send them to all officers. Something that should consistently be done, but isn’t, is posting all meeting minutes to the PRSSA Kent Google site. In addition to taking minutes, I am the keeper of the points.
One of my accomplishments as secretary was revising the point system by creating a way for members to earn more points toward attending the National PRSSA Conference. This change increases member engagement and hopefully chapter unity. I also track meeting attendance, create business cards and name tags for certain events. I am also in charge of the distribution of graduation honor cords. I assist all other officers as needed, and I serve as an organizer for the chapter.
Treasurer (Mary Jo Spletzer)
The Treasurer position is a good way to gain accounting experience. You keep track of PRSSA funds, handle student reimbursements and pay invoices. The university system is easy to learn but it is important to be organized. You will have to keep track of forms and know what is going on in the PRSSA account. It is also your duty to let the organization know when we don’t have the funds to plan an event or reimburse students for specific things.
PRSA/PRSSA Liaison (Deborah Pritchard)
Coordinated trip to National Conference (funding, hotel registration, etc.)
Maintain relationships between PRSSA Kent and PRSA Cleveland and PRSA Akron
Update officers and members on current PRSA events; try to attend and encourage others to attend
Try to help out wherever any other officers need help. We’re a team!
Example of something I accomplished: Successful trip for 8 officers to go to National Conference in Detroit!
Intercampus Liaison (Noelle Pennyman)
As the intercampus liaison, I am responsible for cultivating relationships with other student organizations. I am charged with reaching out to student organizations for possible opportunities to collaborate with them. This semester, PRSSAKent is collaborating with the Ad Club/Handsome Duckling Agency for our first Communications Connection. Another one of my duties is to find opportunities to mentor student organizations who are looking for public relations counsel for their events or projects.
Online Media Manager (Rebecca Odell)
The online media manager is responsible for the coordination and upkeep of PRSSA Kent’s Web Communications. This includes all content on the JMC Web site, PRSSA Kent blog and Twitter account. The online media manager works with the VP of Public Relations to coordinate all communications distributed to members. A love for social media, a desire to write and knowledge of photography and design may be helpful for success in this position.
Quick reminder: This Wednesday’s meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in 213 Franklin Hall. The topic is international marketing.
I hope to see you there!
I apologize for my lack of posts to the PRSSA Kent blog in recent weeks. I can only blame it on one thing: Bateman.
PRSSA Kent member Amanda Hayes talks to students at Stanton Middle School.
That’s right. For the past three months, five PRSSA Kent members have been researching, planning, implementing and evaluating a real-world public relations campaign for the Consumer Bankers Association. The project is part of the 2009 PRSSA Bateman competition. 
This week, the students (myself included) are hard at work implementing the College: RockIt! campaign to seventh graders at Stanton Middle School in Kent, Ohio.
You can learn more about the College: RockIt! campaign at the College: RockIt! blog.
I know spring semester just began, but I’m already over this “snow” thing.
The white flakes falling from the sky created a beautiful change of scenery over winter break, but now that I’m forced to dodge piles of snow and slush to walk to class each day, it’s getting old.
Although I’m not a fan of blustering temperatures, I do love having an excuse to make a hot pot of coffee and drink it any time of day. PRSSA Kent will meet in 213 Franklin Hall to discuss how you can get involved on committees for upcoming events on Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
The meeting is a great way to indulge on free coffee and cookies, but it’s also a way to learn about some of the projects PRSSA Kent is involved with. Signing up to help on a committee is a fun way to meet PRSSA members, and working on committees can help you earn points toward the 2009 trip to San Diego for PRSSA National Conference!
I hope to see you Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Feel free to post a comment to the blog with any questions you may have.
