PR Class Takes on Project to Help UC Cancer Center

Real-world experience and community service came together on the UC campus, as a class from the Public Relations program in UC’s Communication Department made a final project presentation of a campaign to help promote the UC Cancer Center.

The students in Associate Professor Maribeth Metzler’s class worked all through autumn quarter as if they were an actual PR firm retained by the center. At the end of the quarter, they made a presentation to not only Metzler, but to an audience that included Linda Karr, the development officer for the UC Cancer Center, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences Dean Karen Gould and UC President Nancy Zimpher.

The student team – made up of Karen DiGiulio, Arthur Duerson, Jessica Gaither, Tiffany Harmon, Holly Holmes, Chris Robbins, Cyndi Thompson – conducted research on public perceptions of the center currently and made recommendations on ways the center could increase its public profile in the community.

The team recommended a new logo that incorporates an umbrella concept reflective of the Cancer Center’s broad approach to protecting the Greater Cincinnati community. They also developed plans for a series of new community events to raise awareness of the center. Proposed events included involvement in the annual Cincinnati Flower Show and a cycling fund-raiser.

Duerson said the project’s goal was to raise recognition levels for the center in the community to the 60 percent mark in a six-month period. "One benefit we realized in working on this," he said, "is realizing how important all this is to the community, (with) issues such as early detection. Everyone you talk to has been touched by cancer in some way in their lives."

"My hope is we’ll be able to take these results back (to the Medical Center), sit down and really see what pieces we can use out of this," said the Cancer Center’s Karr. "We appreciate the ideas these students have come up with."