Email: Bonita.Neff@valpo.edu Telephone: X6827 Website

Office hours: MTWTh 11:15am-1:00pm

W 2:00pm to 4:00pm and by appointment

Course Goals: The field of public relations is rich with case studies of theory and practice. This course provides a sampling of the case studies in public relations and in most cases, integrated communication. These cases incorporate multicultural and global perspectives along with the challenges of such areas as technology. Excerpts from PRWeek, an agency-produced publication, findings from the Commission on Undergraduate and Graduate Public Relations Education, and other key articles from both trade and academic sources will supplement the case readings.

Texts

Hendrix, Jerry A. (2001). Public Relations Cases. Stanford, CT: Wadsworth.

DeSanto, Barbara and Moss, Danny (2002). Public Relations Cases: International Perspectives. New York: Routledge.

Prerequisites: Comm 101 Media Presentation

Comm 265 Principles of Public Relations

Evaluation. Students must successfully complete all of these assignments to receive a course grade.

1. A daily participatory grade (points) for each class session/exercise, independent sessions, and for assigned activities. (85 points)
2. A series of evaluations (quizzes, case study portfolio, exams, exercises). (100 points)
3. Successful completion/presentation of projects, activities and/or exercises assigned as a member of a team (both individual and team evaluations conducted) (100 points).

It is the responsibility of each student to review and understand the University’s Honor Code. For purposes of this course, it is a particular violation of the Honor Code to submit papers or assignments based on material submitted by students in previous offerings of COMM 374. Project proposals are expected to be original and not derived in whole or in part on others’ work. Work submitted in other classes, including COMM 374, or from work planned for submission in those classes. If you have any doubts about what you plan to propose for this course, see the instructor. Plagiarism of published literature reviews and/or research designs is an absolute violation of the Honor Code. The honor code must be written in full for all assignments and evaluations.

Grading

Course grades will be based on the following point breakdowns (total available points = 285).

A 285 (95%) B- 240 (80%) D+ 201 (67%)

A- 270 (90%) C+ 231 (77%) D 195 (65%)

B+ 261 (87%) C 225 (75%) D- 180 (69%)

B 255 (85%) C- 210 (70%)

You always know how you are doing in this course. Take the number of points you have on any given day and compare them to the number of point you could have if you had obtained a perfect score on everything. Take you actual score point total divided by the perfect score total, and match the resulting percentage to the grade list above.

Since the exams, quizzes, and presentations/projects represent ample opportunity for evaluation in this course, there will be no opportunity for extra credit work.

Attendance.

Because the exams and quizzes are derived from lectures and readings, regular class attendance is important—especially during class presentations. Failure to attend all such presentations will result in course points being deducted. Make-up exams and quizzes will be given for illness only when the instructor can verify the illness through a nurse and/or doctor. Make-ups for other reasons are at the instructor’s discretion, but will be difficult to obtain. All sports participants must provide official schedules of their activities. No exceptions. Arrangements for make-ups must be made in advance of the absence. Make-up quizzes will be oral. Make-up exams will usually be essay and always different from regularly scheduled exams.

Vacation Policy: The University specifies clearly when vacation periods begin and end. The course operates strictly on that schedule, which students are expected to know. Leaving for vacation early, returning late, missed rides or failures to make alternative transportation arrangements do not constitute good excuses for missed classes, assignments, quizzes and exams.

Please keep a record of your grade points. That way you will easily be able to compute how well you are doing in the course on any given day.

Presentations and other evaluations (The number of lines do not necessarily represent the actual number of opportunities that will be given.)
 

#1	#11
#2	#12
#3	#13
#4	#14
#5	#15
#6	#16
#7	#17
#8	#18
#9	#19
#10	#20

Class participation (85 points) _____

Evaluation (100 points) _____

Projects & exercises (100 points) _____

WEEK ONE

Jan 9

Obj: To establish the logistics for the course, including weekly team sessions and the development of a case portfolio

Hendrix: Public Relations in Action, 3-9

WEEK TWO

Jan 14

Obj: To incorporate the process of public relations

Hendrix: Public Relations Process 11-48

WEEK THREE

Jan 21

Jan 28

Hendrix: Internal Communications, 107-113

Member Relations, 131-134

Assignments:

Case 4-1: 4-1 "Just 2 It" 115
Case 4-2: Healthy Heart and Soul 124
Case 4-3: The Air Force Association—Member Relations 138
Case 4-4: World Vinyl Forum 148

WEEK FIVE

Feb 4

Hendrix: Community Relations, 157-164

Assignments:

Case 5-1: Come Home: The Return to Central Library 166
Case 5-2: "Colorado Springs Airport Opening 177
Case 5-3: The Collectors 186
Case 12: Creating from Crisis: Building the Oklahoma City National Memorial 144-153 (DeSanto and Moss)

Feb 11

Hendrix: Public Affairs and Government Relations, 193-207

Assignments:

Feb 18

Hendrix: Investor and Financial Relations 237-242

Assignments:

Case 7-1: Creating confidence in a Corporate Turnaround 246
Case 7-2: Repositioning the Scotts Company
Case 6: Barloworld-Shareholder Value 74-85 (De Santo and Moss)
Case 7: The Price WaterhouseCoopers Merger 86-92 (De Santo and Moss)

Feb 25

Hendrix: Consumer Relations, 274-281

Assignments:

March 4-March 17^th—Spring Break

WEEK ELEVEN

Mar 18

Obj: To learn the skill of case study development

Assignment:

Midterm: paper due on cases and readings (guidelines on website)

Midterm: class discussion of ideas presented over the term based on your papers (guidelines on website)

WEEK TWELVE

Mar 25

Hendrix: International Public Relations, 326-323

Assignments:

April 1

April 8

WEEK FIFTEEN

April 15

April 22

April 29

May 6

Final Exam: MW Class--10:30am-12:30pmMon, May 9