Opening Reception at AEJMC 2010
This past week, I attended the AEJMC Conference in Denver where I was participating in the Job Placement Fair. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet other professionals in the communications and public relations discipline and learn more about the various programs. It was a wonderful experience for me! 🙂 In addition, it also allowed me to meet some of the other doctoral students presenting at the conference and interviewing as well. Some were some of my friends that I met at previous conferences and others are new friends.
One of the things that I was really impressed with at the AEJMC Conference was the level of professionalism and integration of both research and practitioner experience among the doctoral students. These professionals were cutting edge with the latest research, engaged with the new technology and more importantly, tying in together both the research and professional realms of public relations. These are individuals that are constantly expanding their horizon beyond just one section of the discipline, and this is something that I personally think is going to help shape and evolve the public relations profession even more so. I believe that these doctoral students that are coming out this year are integrating both the research and practice in defining who they are as a public relations professional and researcher. In many ways, we are seeing a new trend of the new hybrid PhD student. What I mean about this is that presently, you have to have the complete package to be successful in the profession today. Corporations and other professionals want public relations professionals who have a sound understanding (both in theory and method) in research, but they also want professionals to understand how their research can be applied and used in the real world. These individuals have to be able to present effectively in academic circles, but also be able to present their insights and findings to the practitioners and senior level management at corporations.
So, the question is – how do you become a hybrid of both a researcher and practitioner, and become the complete PR package? Well, there are several things that you can do to accomplish this:
Get information from various sources – both academic and practitioner: Sometimes PhD students are only focusing on what is being published in the academic journals, which is absolutely key – but we need to be open on what the practitioners are doing in the field in terms of implementing these technologies and what are some of the issues that they are dealing with in the field. By understanding what information and issues are being focused in both of these publications, we can become better integrated with a balanced perspective of public relations.
Connect and share with both parties online: Be engaging and interactive with both researchers and practitioners online – whether it is creating your own blog or joining various networks on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Definitely participate in group functions that are sponsored by both research institutions and professional organizations in public relations. You want to make sure that you are aware of what issues, topics, and campaigns / research studies that are currently being implemented by these individuals. You never know – a new research study could come out of this! 🙂
Engage and share knowledge with each group: The part of being a hybrid PhD doctoral student is that you work in both research and application of public relations. Sharing information and providing people with insights in an open forum is absolutely key. You want to share with the academic community what are the current issues and challenges that public relations professionals are faced with when it comes with new technology for example, and what we could do in providing our research insights to better understanding this more clearly. On the other side, we have to take what we have learned in our research and communicate how this could benefit the public relations practice as well as discuss what are the implications to this research to the field. The point is that we have to make sure that we are clear and concise with our information to both parties, and that we can all work together to accomplish these challenges together. We are all on the same PR team – so we need to work together! 🙂
Provide information to the PR community, don’t be a gatekeeper: In establishing your influence in both circles, it is important to be willing and open to sharing your experiences and knowledge in both research and practice to everyone in the public relations community. I still see that there are still gatekeepers in the public relations profession, and I do believe that in order for us to evolve as a discipline, we have to be transparent ourselves in our knowledge and help educate others on what we have learned along the way.
In summary, it was really exciting for me to see the emerging young public relations researchers at the AEJMC Conference and see what they are doing in their own research, but it was also encouraging to see that they were also still participating in the profession as well. Having this hybrid perspective is going to really help the public relations profession continue to grow and evolve, and it is really exciting to see this happening as we speak. I wish all of the graduate students in PR who were on the job market the best of luck – you will be a key resource and force for the public relations profession in the 21st century.
Hope you all are having a wonderful day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
0 Comments