We’re super proud of all of our alums, so many of you are going on to do great work in our profession.Today we say congratulations to our own Cara Mahon. Cara earned her master’s degree recently from the University of Missouri.

Cara, who works for AWG,  did some really interest research for her thesis about how independent grocery retailers (like AWG members) can successfully market and communicate their online grocery shopping offerings to their customers to secure sales online and in-stores. She did this through marketing email communications.

Here is a summary of the research Cara posted on AWG’s blog and was nice enough to let us share here.

Students and anyone reading this who might be interested in public relations, this is a great example of the kind of work people are executing in the public relations profession.

Thanks Cara, we’re super proud of you. Let us know what you’ve been up to and we’ll be glad to share it here.

Here’s an article from Ragan’s PR Daily that features advice from UCM PR Program Alum Robert Fischer about how he uses a tool called CoverageBooks in his work. It is great to see our alums making news. Please make sure you pass along any mentions of your work too!

From Robert:

“If anyone is interested in learning about the resources PR pros use today or adding to their current arsenal, here’s a great article to assist. I’m featured sharing my tool I recommend for press clippings and reports.

8 favorite tools for PR pros in the trenches By Michelle Garrett | Posted: November 10, 2017 PR pros love their tools, but with so many to choose from, how can you tell which are truly effective? To get some advice, why not ask communicators already on the job? PR pros are always happy to share their favorites, which include newer solutions as well as old standbys. Here are eight or more tools they say impact their work every day: 1. Canva Sabrina Browne, public relations professional and brand strategist, likes Canva for Business. “There’s the opportunity to develop everything from infographics to social tiles, brand kits and one-sheeters,” she says. “There are several ways to bring client communications to life.” Vannessa Wade, principal at Connect The Dots PR, is also a fan of Canva. “Canva brings vibrant and eye-catching design to my fingertips; it helps us paint our client’s story without expensive programs.” 2. Magisto Another of Browne’s favorites is Magisto. “It’s an excellent application to create digital videos, and they offer several layouts […] to showcase your clients’ products, services and more.” [FREE GUIDE: 10 ways to improve your writing today.] 3. CoverageBooks This is a favorite of Robert Fischer, content specialist for LockerDome and music publicist for Dominant Seventh. “It’s a fast, easy way to create coverage reports specifically for online placements,” he says. “It will also take screenshots of the coverage and give you digestible information about each placement.” This is convenient for his business, since “you can customize these reports with other metrics or non-digital coverage, so it’s all in one place.” 4. Box and DropBox (and Cision too) Matt Falso, director of brand strategy, Soteryx Corporation, has other recommendations. “I’m a big fan of both Box and DropBox for file sharing,” he shares. For media list management, Falso prefers Cision, “but for distributions, I like the interface and functionality of Meltwater better,” he says. 5. Meltwater Meltwater gets another vote from Shelby Whitzel, senior associate, corporate communications, Blue 449. “Meltwater is amazing for monitoring both social and traditional press, with great reporting features and super helpful customer service reps.” 6. Buffer Whitzel also gives Buffer high marks. “Buffer helps with scheduling, which is ultra-important when you’re managing multiple social media accounts across all platforms,” she says. “Both keep me sane in this busy world.” 7. Feedly Feedly is a favorite of Olivia Adams, communications strategist at Byrum & Fisk Communications. “As a PR professional working with clients in a variety of industries, Feedly helps me stay on top of breaking news and trends that impact my clients,” she states. “I also create feeds for public relations, social media, blogging and marketing so I can stay ahead of trends in my field.” 8. Twitter Andrea Vassallo Meyer, corporate communications consultant (@andreamv) says Twitter is one of the most useful tools she uses. “If there’s a reporter I’ve worked with, it’s a great way to keep in contact by just commenting on stories and replying when they pose questions,” she says. “And if you’re researching a potential client, you can check out their main Twitter account to see who they follow,” she adds. “You can then follow those they’ve identified as key media (important to the leadership) and influencers already on their radar.” PR Daily readers, which tools do you use to make your job easier? Michelle Garrett is a PR consultant and writer at Garrett Public Relations. Follow her on Twitter @PRisUs or connect with her on LinkedIn. (Image via)

The day after our Thanksgiving celebration can bring more holiday excitement, or thanks giving can simply continue. As I think of the UCM PR program’s alumni and the powerful positive impact they’ve made since leaving us, I find myself deeply thankful. They make my job easier and, in fact, are often the key to student success.

Alumni engagement plays a vital role in higher ed success. Our alumni have a history of making profound impacts on our program and in students’ lives. While hard to find just the right words to tell how important you are to what we do, it’s still worth a try. In a nutshell, we are deeply grateful and admit that we can’t do it without you!

Luckily, the UCM public relations alumni are highly engaged with us and willing to mentor student after student. It’s an amazing culture of giving back. Why, just in the fall 2017 semester more than 50 alumni engaged with us directly in some way, whether that be visiting campus and speaking to students, arranging internships, participating in our annual PR Pro Day, visiting with interested students via Skype or Google Hangouts, serving as class clients, mentoring our Innovative PR student agency, providing professional advisory board insights, teaching for us in an adjunct capacity, providing behind-the-scenes access to businesses, giving generously to the UCM PR program fund, or serving as an IPR client. In fact, three #teamInnovativePR specialists just returned from a fantastic #EngagedLearning and #LearningtoaHigherDegree experience in Los Angeles, all led by alumnus and Fuegorita client Tony Winders. Visiting FOXLA and Ogilvy, conducting observational research at prominent pizza restaurants, and brainstorming for a hot pepper blend client, are all something to talk about. It’s opportunities like these provided to IPR specialists that help us produce ideal graduates.

Let me put on my official hat. Our program’s purpose is to transform students’ lives and produce ideal public relations graduates. Here’s our ideal public relations graduate description:

“a strategic researcher, implementer, communicator and evaluator. The graduate is a skilled researcher who asks questions that help solve strategic problems/goals. After finding the answers, the graduate then puts those answers into action items that will contribute to the organization’s or client’s bottom-line. In order to be successful and to get results, the graduate understands how to communicate with his/her intended audience. Simply put, the graduate knows what to say, how to say it and when to say it. Speaking of results, the graduate also knows how to evaluate his/her action item’s success. How can the graduate do all of this? Because he/she has skills – skills learned and honed in experiential learning environments (i.e., the classroom, internships, professional conferences, etc.). The dedicated student masters several professional skill-sets before graduation.” UCM PR assessment documents

We work hard to produce ideal PR graduates, but we necessarily depend on our alumni to do it.

So, UCM PR alumni, hear us clearly — we offer our thanks.

Please stay involved. And, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Today we’re thrilled to have UCM PR Program alum Cory Bittner as a guest blogger. He has some great advice for all of us. 

My name is Cory Bittner and I am the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Falcon Wealth Advisors in Mission Woods, Kansas. I’ve been fortunate to spend nearly eight years in the Wealth Management industry and in 2016 had the opportunity to launch my own practice alongside my business partner with the support of our staff from our previous employer.

The technical competency and understanding of the intricacies that drive the capital markets are a prerequisite to serve as a wealth advisor. Over the last several years I’ve capitalized on opportunities (and lucked out things broke my way) to affiliate with prestigious organizations, and educate myself at one of the world’s top business schools. However, I am routinely astonished at the general public’s lack of financial literacy. I’m not talking about P/E multipliers or implied volatility. I am referring to topics that that ought to be instilled in all of us at a young age. My intention is to touch on a few different subjects, from a 30,000-foot perspective, to highlight topics that I wish someone would have explained more clearly to me when I was 18-22 years old.

• Saving/Compounding – Let’s face it, we are not part of the pension generation. New workers today are shouldering more responsibility planning for their own future. If you’re fortunate enough to have a job where an employer-sponsored retirement plan is available to you, and perhaps your employer is even willing to match a portion of your contributions, it is foolish to not take full advantage of that benefit. An employer match on your own savings is free money! The benefits to saving early in life have been well-documented (see page 16 in link provided).
• Buying Your First Home – You’ve graduated college, perhaps you’ve had roommates/rented your own place for a few years, and you’re contemplating making what’s likely your first major purchase. Hopefully you’ve set money aside the last several years to make a down payment. If not, consider the additional expense of mortgage insurance. Purchasing a home where you cannot afford to put down 20% of the cost means you’re probably out of your price range. Don’t rush the process, but make sure that if you’re not building equity in a home (if you’re renting), make sure you’re doing so elsewhere (like the stock market).
• Debt Management – I hope you’re lucky enough to graduate college without student loans! If you’re not, that is okay. You’re one of the Americans that collectively owed more than $1.3 trillion in student loans at the end of June 2017. Research has shown it takes the average bachelor’s degree holder 21 years to pay off student debt. Investing in your education is investing in yourself. That said, don’t put your head in the sand when it comes to the details of your loan(s). Six months after graduation, payments will begin, and you’re going to want to understand how much money you borrowed, and how much interest you’re going to pay over the next 21+ years. Ignorance is no excuse!

When I first declared Public Relations my major at UCM, I did not have the slightest idea the career path that would take me down. I attribute my ability to think critically about the details while viewing the big picture to the UCM PR Department. I learned, as Theodore Roosevelt famously said to, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Resourcefulness should never be discounted. These are life skills that I’ll forever be grateful were taught to me. My hope is this post highlights another proficiency, Financial Literacy, that may help prepare you for what lies ahead.

We’re sharing a great article today from our friend Tressa Robbins at BurrellesLuce in St. Louis. She has some great advice for our students. It was originally posted here on Culpwrit.com.

If we could be so bold we would make number 10 on the list, be sure to tell anyone you know who is coming to UCM to check out PR as a potential major. Anything else you would add?

9 Things Every Public Relations Student Should Be Doing Over Summer Break

July 13th, 2017 ·

We thought you might enjoy hearing from one of our students about the UCM PR Program. Blake Hedberg submitted this winning video essay about the program for the UCM PR Scholarship. Blake is about to head to grad school and will continue his role as the manager of our student agency, Innovative Public Relations. He talks about what is important to him about the program, it is great perspective…feel free to share it with a friend, especially if you know someone who is looking for a great major!

We’re excited to share this guest post from UCM PR alum Tony Winders. Tony joined our program advisory board recently and was kind enough to spend a day talking with UCM PR students before our Spring meeting. This post originally appeared on his blog at his website http://www.tonywinders.com. 

Be sure to keep up with the program on our website at www.ucmo.edu/pr. 

by Tony Winders

When I decided to travel back to my alma mater, the University of Central Missouri, for the 50th reunion of my Lambda Chi Alpha chapter, I offered to speak to the public relations undergrads and Dr. Tricia Hansen-Horn graciously accepted. Throughout the day, last Thursday, I had the opportunity to speak with more than 120 students.

Searching for an interesting topic beyond just droning on about myself, I was inspired enough by some of the interactions I had on my trip that I decided to use them as anecdotes for sharing a few lessons about marketing and life with the undergrads. Perhaps you too can find some value in my situation. Continue reading →