For the eighth time in nine years, a team of Kent State students has earned national recognition in the Public Relations Student Society of America's Bateman Case Study Competition. The team, "Bateman Blue" — public relations majors Zach Zdanowicz, Camryn Stephens, Ben Vrobel, Hannah Mayer, Kayla Polansky and Ashley Blood — earned an honorable mention.
The competition challenged students across the country to research, plan, implement and evaluate a public relations campaign to raise awareness about the importance of civility. The team chose to target Kent State students involved with Student Media as well as freshmen in the College of Communication and Information (CCI), with a campaign that included podcasts, a virtual event and a socially distanced "grab-and-go" information table in CCI Commons, the living learning community in Olson Hall for CCI students.
Bateman adviser Stefanie Moore, professor in the School of Media and Journalism, said she is proud her students; only 11 out of 54 teams that entered the competition earned honors.
"I'm thrilled to see Bateman Blue's campaign recognized," Moore said. "Implementing a mostly all-virtual campaign during a pandemic was challenging, but their hard work paid off. I'm so proud of all the 2021 Bateman students and am in awe of how much work they put into the entire campaign process."
Alumna Hanna Moore, '17, marketing coordinator at Cohen & Company, advised the team.
View a Civility Training Brochure, created by the team.
Read more about the Bateman Blue team's campaign below.
