Syracuse University can proudly tout that it's faculty ISN'T among those groups who get lumped into the saying "those who can't, teach."
Every year the school selects a number of accomplished professionals from various industries to create and teach their own courses at Syracuse. These classes provide students the opportunity to learn from people who are "practicing what they preach" on a daily basis using the latest tools, techniques and conventional wisdom. This ain't just book-learning; its a little taste of the real world.
PAN's president, Philip A. Nardone has been one of Syracuse's visiting professors since 2003. He's been teaching a course which examines the management of a public relations agency at Syracuse's famed Newhouse School of Public Communications.
The course, which is available to seniors and master’s candidates, introduces students to the practices of public relations within the context of a public relations firm, distinguishing agency life from other work environments. The course is highly participatory, focusing on business development, client service and people management and allows students to apply principles discussed in the class by working together to manage their own mock-up PR firm.
In this year's syllabus Phil includes principles of New Media--blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc.--and how PR practitioners have to integrate these new technologies in order to create well-rounded PR campaigns for clients. But none of that really matters if you can't put it into practice, right?
That's why you'll see in the coming days and weeks here on PRSpeak posts from Phil's students at SU. The blog will be open, and we're excited to see what the next generation of PR-types are thinking, hearing and learning about the profession.
For those of you in the industry who sometimes visit, feel free to post comments--get the students in Phil's class engaged on the blog so they can get a taste of what's new in communications.