In two weeks, 24 corporate communications students will be sitting in the conference rooms of some of New York City’s top public relations firms.
The experience, part of a trip coined “Bishop to Broadway” has been organized and will be chaperoned by corporate communications professors Gracie Lawson-Borders and Joe Downing. The trip’s $1,500 cost includes roundtrip airfare and a week stay at the Hilton Times Square. Also, students will receive one hour of credit towards their degree plan.
“New York City is the key market for public relations,” Lawson-Borders said. “This trip will provide networking and exposure to key players in the industry.”
The students will be attending four to five meetings a day with companies (both in-house and out-of-house) like Porter-Novelli, Burson-Marsteller, Verizon, Patrice-Tanaka & Company and Clear Channel.
They will also meet with the Council of Public Relations Firms, a consortium of public relations organizations in New York City.
A United Nations ambassador has also agreed to meet with the students to speak about government relations. Students will be given an insider’s perspective on crisis communications, international affairs, government relations, pubic affairs, event planning and cause marketing.
SMU alumni in New York who are currently working in the public relations field will also meet with the students.
“We are going to be moving, and moving fast,” Lawson-Borders said. However, there will be time for students to experience ‘the city that never sleeps.’
Teisha-Vonique Hood, junior corporate communications and business administration major says she is barely able to contain her excitement.
“I just want to be in New York City – the atmosphere, the culture and the amazing opportunity I have to meet with these insiders – oh, and I already have tickets to TRL,” she said.
Despite the students’ excitement to have New York City as their playground, they say they are incredibly serious about the commitment they have made to their chosen major, and especially to this trip. Students and professors alike see this as an opportunity of a lifetime.
Lawson-Borders predicts that as public relations and advertising become more integrated, advertising majors might also be able to attend in the future.
This year is the inaugural trip for the professors and students, so many of the specifics have not yet been hammered out and much of the daily itinerary is changing and growing daily.
Lawson-Borders hopes the companies will be blown-away by the level of responsibility and dedication of SMU students.
“I want to leave a piece of SMU in New York City,” she said.
