The SCIENCE BENEATH the ART of PUBLIC RELATIONS ™
April 8, 2015

IPR announced yesterday the election of Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., as the organization's fifth chief executive officer since becoming an independent organization in 1989. McCorkindale, whose election is effective May 11, succeeds CEO Frank Ovaitt, who is retiring.

 

"As someone who has been involved with IPR for 15 years, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead this organization forward," said McCorkindale. "Research on measurement standards, behavioral and employee communications, and the deeper meaning of social media will remain among IPR's top priorities. We will also work to invest more into our research efforts, while also building awareness of what's already available to professionals and academics who share our passion for public relations and communications." Read more.
Jeanine Guidry  Shana Meganck, and Marcus Messner, Virginia Commonwealth University, Yan Jin, University of Georgia and Jerome Niyirora, SUNY Polytechnic Institute

 

This paper was chosen as one of the 2015 International Public Relations Research Conference's Top Three Paper Awards for Practical Significance. 

 

Health organizations faced a two-fold crisis: how to communicate with the public about Ebola and how to manage the negative public sentiments. Recent research found that Instagram was an effective platform for to reach out to the public with an average of 55 million photos posted daily.

 

This study analyzes the visual social media engagement on Instagram by three large health organizations and how they responded to the ongoing Ebola crisis. Social media platforms and mobile technologies continue to play an increasingly important role in infectious disease outbreak management, tracking and information gathering. Read more.

 

Maggie Christ, Renata Sandor and Andrew Tonne, DePaul University, won the Jack Koten Page Principles Case Study Award for their submission on the impact of CVS Health's high-profile corporate rebranding campaign. The competition sponsored by the Arthur W. Page Society and IPR awards students whose original case studies best examine the practice of corporate communications in a business issue or crisis.

 

"As the competition continues to grow year after year, so do the efforts of the outstanding students that enter. This competition has lent a hand to progressing this industry's understanding of strategic communications and how it can be put to use to effectively maintain public relations as a critical part of businesses today," said Frank Ovaitt, president and CEO of IPR. Read more. 


Each year the Public Relations Leadership Forum attracts some of the brightest, high-performing communications managers from Global 1000 companies and public relations firms. This year's forum will focus on the effective use of research in planning and implementing public relations activities. To enhance discussion, networking opportunities and learning exchange, the event will be restricted to 35 registrants. Register here.