Public Relations

PREP’s First Special Olympics Awards Gala

University of Miami’s PREP students spent Saturday night, Sept. 24, working the Annual Special Olympics Sponsor an Athlete Awards Dinner Gala at the JW Marriot Marquis marking the first time PREP has teamed up with the organization. PREP students assisted photographers and worked with social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Periscope, for cocktail hour, the R-word table, and the red carpet. Of the 10 students working the event, this was the first gala for all but the two managers, Kaley Surman and Brianna Valdivia. “I really enjoyed the [...]

Koenigsberg and Nadal Interactive Media Center Opening at UM School of Communication

By Karina Valdes A state-of-the-art space for innovation and creativity is opening at the University of Miami School of Communication. The Koenigsberg and Nadal Interactive Media Center (IMC) is poised to transform experiential education at the University by giving students collaborative spaces and a fully-equipped multimedia agency to create, learn, and expand their portfolios. “Students need to have access to the tools that are driving creative work across communication industries,” says Gregory J. Shepherd, dean of the School of Communication. “But I also think it is essential that we provide [...]

PREP Students Assist in St. Jude’s 5K

University of Miami PREP students had an early yet rewarding start to their Saturday by assisting the staff of the South Florida office of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with its annual St. Jude’s Run/Walk to End Childhood Cancer at the Miami-Dade County Fair Grounds on Sept. 24. St. Jude is one of the original partners for the PREP program and, as such, students in the course have been gaining valuable experience with the organization for more than six years. For the Run/Walk, PREP students assisted with runner check-in, social [...]

MCHF 5K Keeps PREP Students On The Run

Students of University of Miami's Public Relations Experience Program (PREP) spent Saturday morning, Sept. 17, working the Miami Children's Health Foundation's (MCHF) 5k race at Coral Gables City Hall. School of Communication PREP students assisted with photographers and videographers and aided with content and imagery for MCHF’s social media platforms. PREP newcomers Molly Peot, Emely Amaya, and Eva Tahernia helped photographers and videographers capture crucial moments such as the race kick-off, the start, finish, and award ceremony. PREP veteran Rizelle Zabate, along with three new PREP members, Erika Price, Gines [...]

Comic Cure Celebrates One Year, PREP Part Of The Party

Comic Cure’s Mr. Multiple Personality was arguably one of the best and most important shows as it marked the one-year anniversary of the organization, and the School of Communication’s PREP students were part of the celebration on Friday, Sept. 16 at Miami Theater Center in Miami Shores. “It was a night of non-stop laughter,” according to managing director and co-founder of Comic Cure, Benjamin Leis. “Our year culminated with an incredible anniversary show and we, once again, could not have made this night possible without PREP. It was a perfect [...]

Did You Get to Know us?

On Aug. 30, the rain didn't stop University of Miami’s award-winning publications and organizations from getting together and encouraging students to get involved. Organized by the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), club leaders and interested students gathered around free pizza and soda to listen to the benefits of joining one of the many organizations the School of Communication has to offer. PRSSA is a pre-professional organization open to all students that aims to give real-world public relations experience. Professor Heidi Carr, the faculty adviser for UM PRSSA, says [...]

Start The School Year With A Laugh…Or Three: PREP Season Begins With Comic Cure Ladies Night Out In Miami Shores

Students enrolled in the Public Relations Experience Program (PREP) ended their first week of classes with a night of laughter in Miami Shores. Comic Cure’s Ladies Night OUT was on Aug. 26 at the Miami Theater Center and served as the backdrop for a fun way to kick off a PREP semester filled with events throughout South Florida.  “Over the past year we’ve hosted more than a dozen events benefiting twenty charities and more than 140 comedians. That kind of impact can’t be done alone,” said Benjamin Leis, Comic Cure [...]

PREP Assists At Comic Cure’s First Outdoor Comedy Festival: A Rain Storm Turns Out To Be A Great Backdrop

On Friday, April 15, the Palmetto Bay community experienced the very first outdoor comedy festival, right in their backyards at Ludovici Park. The festival was hosted by Comic Cure, an organization built on promoting comedy in Miami by showcasing local talent and raising funds for local charities. For this particular show, a portion of every ticket sale benefited the Everglades Foundation. Brothers Benjamin and Richy Leis created Comic Cure in September 2015 and have since hosted comedy shows all throughout South Florida benefiting a wide variety of charities including The [...]

Dr. Weiting Tao Awarded Grant Funding from the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication

Assistant Professor Dr. Weiting Tao from the University of Miami School of Communication's Department of Strategic Communication was recently awarded funding in the form of a grant from the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at Penn State University. Tao’s project, Employee Prosocial Engagement in CSR through Empowerment in Decision Making, was awarded $10,000 by the center as part of their 2016-2017 Joint Faculty-Practitioner Grant. According to Tao, “The purpose of this project is to examine how companies can motivate employees’ prosocial behavior through corporate social responsibility [...]

2019-12-17T19:27:39-05:00April 22, 2016|Doctoral, Public Relations|

UM Student Shoots Film in Minus 43 F

On Nov. 11, 2015, the Chinese “Double 11” shopping day (like “Cyber Monday” in the U.S.), when Chinese girls were busy spending on clothes, Mingtian was desperate for money to complete her thesis film in the University of Miami School of Communication’s Master of Fine Arts program. Faced with a $15,000 shortage, the 24-year-old from Beijing decided to do crowdfunding on WeChat, the Chinese version of Instagram. “I thought that, besides buying merchandise, people may also want to spend money to help memorialize a special culture,” says Mingtian. Mingtian’s film, [...]