Guest post: Debbie Ebalobo (University of Georgia) (Teaching PR)

Here's the fourth and final post in my series of guest posts by PR student bloggers. Debbie Ebalobo is a third-year PR major at the University of Georgia, and she writes about diversity issues in public relations on her blog, Diversified PR.

How PRSSA Can Promote Diversity at Your School

The University of Georgia PRSSA chapter began a new diversity initiative this year. Though it has only been half a semester, the initiative is breaking new ground in the recruitment but more importantly the retention of minorities in the Public Relations Student Society of America.

Through this post, I hope to encourage other PRSSA chapters to take the step to include diversity as one of their chapter goals.

First, I wanted to speak about the purpose of the initiative. This new initiative tries to encourage multicultural students to be active in PRSSA and gain valuable experience, and though the program encourages diverse students to join, the primary goal is to retain diversity.

Many individuals believe that beginning a new diversity initiative is too difficult; however from personal experience, I want to say that all it takes is a chapter that wants to commit to addressing this problem.

At the University of Georgia, it took one summer and a few brainstorming meetings with my advisor and the PRSSA executive board to implement a working committee.

If a school chooses to take on this project, I want to outline the different parts of the initiative:

Part One: The first part is a diversity committee head. This person is integral to the success of your program. He or she must be willing to think of new projects for the committee to partake in. Though the group often helps in setting the agenda for the semester, the team head is the lead. I am the current diversity committee head at UGA, and because the initiative is new, I understand that I lay the foundation to the projects we participate in.

Part Two: The second part is an executive board and an advisor who is willing to take on diversity projects. This year, the diversity committee has worked very closely with our advisor, Dr. Betty Jones, and the executive board to bring more multicultural speakers and work with multicultural organizations throughout the university.

Part Three: The third part involves a willing group of students who want to make a difference and understand that this is NEW; therefore the start is rocky because no programs are laid out. Stress that the opportunity for new PRSSA diversity related programming is endless, but it will be hard work.

Part Four: The last part involves the college. The group NEEDS to know that what they are doing is integral; having staff and faculty that are willing to help is important. At UGA, we are directly working with dean of students to increase diversity in the Grady College itself. Knowing that the Grady College is committed to what we are trying to accomplish provides motivation to each committee member.

In conclusion, I want to speak about the importance of diversity and how each PRSSA chapter has an opportunity to tackle the problem head on. I know it is often put in the back burner, but as PR people, we never ignore a problem—we have to tackle it head on. This is another lesson that we can teach PRSSA members. Overall, the diversity committee at UGA is still learning, but at least I can say…the University of Georgia PRSSA is taking the steps that will change the face of communication; can your university do the same?