Having Lunch with President Warren

​By Meghan Caprez 

Last week, four members of PRSSA Kent ate lunch with Beverly Warren, Ph.D., president of Kent State University. President Warren offered this luncheon as a bidding item for PRSSA’s Homecoming auction last fall, and it sold for $1,000.
 
PRSSA Kent allowed each of its members the opportunity to apply to attend the luncheon, and the Chapter’s professional advisors selected four individuals who applied. I was lucky enough to be selected, alongside PRSSA Kent President Gabrielle Woodard, Vice President of Fundraising and Community Relations Erin Zaranec and Web and Social Media Manager Zabrina Hvostal.
 
Hosted and catered in President Warren’s office, we talked about everything from the Bateman Case Study Competition to the day President Warren’s Twitter account was shut down. Here are 10 of my favorite things that happened during (and after) our luncheon:

1. The food was AMAZING. Thank you, Dining Services!
2. President Warren asked each of us where we wanted to end up after graduation. Our answers ranged from working for the Make-A-Wish Foundation to working as a lobbyist.
3. We discussed the communication environment that has been created by politicians throughout the 2016 election season. President Warren shared some insight about elections in the past and how candidates have drastically shifted the focus this time around.
4. President Warren had her PRSSA Kent travel mug sitting out on her desk!
5. We learned that the climate survey is a BIG DEAL. We haven’t done one since the 1990s!
6. We discussed ISIS and terrorism and how Kent State University is a safe space to discuss all ideas and discover truths about the world as a whole. Gabrielle was able to share her experience in Professors Stephanie Smith and Paul Haridakis’ Communication and Terrorism course, especially the conversations she was able to have the day after the Paris attacks.
7. President Warren asked us to advise her about some personal social media strategies. We told her to keep engaging with students on Twitter. We love that she makes an effort to talk to us on a platform that we’re active on!
8. In 2020, we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the May 4 massacre. President Warren talked to us about how the university is starting to plan events that will happen that year, and she asked us how the university could move forward with its national reputation while still honoring our history.
9. We were able to brag about the PR program and its faculty for a whole hour!
10. President Warren tweeted us later that afternoon: “Enjoyed an engaging conversation with @prssakent students. Thanks for making my day.”

 
On behalf of our entire Chapter, I’d like to say thank you to President Warren and the 10 individuals who bet on this item during our Homecoming auction last fall. Your generous donation was greatly appreciated by those of us who were able to attend the luncheon and those of us who attended PRSSA National Conference this fall. We would not have been able to send 14 of our members to Atlanta without you. Thank you!

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