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Many critics view "deontology" (focusing largely on the merits of an action itself) and "utilitarianism" (evaluation of an action based on its projected consequences) as rival approaches to ethical decision making. This survey of public relations students at three universities in the United States and one each in Hong Kong and mainland China suggest that, as various theorists propose, many people adhere to both schools of thought, with utilitarianism being the dominant view overall. Furthermore, belief in both schools appears to correlate with high-minded ethical thinking as measured by assessments of several hypothetical ethical decisions. Implications for teaching are suggested.

What does it mean to be and to act like a school leader online? Although many school leaders might be comfortable navigating issues of identity in face-to-face environments, online environments may present new and unprecedented challenges. These challenges may range from concerns about privacy and surveillance to questions about how best to leverage social media for professional or school aims. Accordingly, the present study draws upon interview and tweet data to explore administrators' performance of identity on Twitter. Findings describe how administrators enacted two distinct identities: one relating to instructional leadership and the other relating to school public relations. Administrators were reticent about revealing other, more personal identities. This was seen as a way to maintain and gain followers. Implications for identity research, online professional learning, and public school relations are discussed.

In the mad dash to complete the plethora of projects that lead up to the public launch of a campaign, it would be easy to start thinking of the kickoff as a goal in itself, but it's merely a mile marker in the marathon of a fundraising campaign that may last five to 10 years. Given that only a fraction of an institution's constituents may attend a kickoff event or receive a case statement, development communicators must devise methods for keeping campaign messages interesting and effective well beyond the starting line of the public launch. When preparing for a lengthy campaign, professionals say that having good stories to tell is essential.

Over the past decade, industry relevance and connectedness have evolved into a key requirement for students and their parents, who increasingly perceive employability upon graduation as a critical factor in the degree selection process. Simultaneously, professional bodies emphasise the need for high levels of industry engagement as a condition for accreditation, which in turn further impacts on the "marketability" of a specific degree. However, many of the skills emphasised by potential employers and industry reference groups are more closely aligned with generic graduate attributes, rather than discipline specific knowledge and skills. This increasingly includes an emphasis on cultural awareness, excellent communication skills and the ability to work in dispersed, often even virtual teams. This observation is arguably particularly relevant within the business (degree) context, where workforces become increasingly multicultural, as traditional borders and limitations make way for transnational opportunities. This paper discusses the benefits and challenges associated with a third year student project that set out to combine the need for discipline specific knowledge, with the acquisition of versatile, culturally sensitive business skills. Students participating in the aptly titled "communications challenge" competed against their peers as part of multicultural teams, representing twelve countries, across five continents. The authors conclude that experiential learning opportunities like this global, real life client project may not necessarily be popular amongst the wider student cohort. Furthermore, the acquisition of discipline specific knowledge may be limited when compared to "traditional" teaching deliveries. However, projects like this provide a number of benefits, in particular in the context of capstone units that set out to prepare students for a diverse career in an increasingly global, multicultural and complex environment.

Based on a concept of professionalism, this study analyzed and compared current public relations curricula of higher education among the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. In terms of three educational orientations, results indicated that public relations education in the United States is the most balanced among theoretical, skill-based, and practical content; U.K. schools offer more theoretical courses, and South Korean schools are significantly more concerned with skill-based and practical courses. (Contains 3 tables and 52 notes.)

In a world ruled by digital communications, it can seem like there are almost as many methods, tools, and platforms to communicate with internal audiences as there are opinions and perspectives on how to do it effectively. Organizations of various sizes are struggling with how to reach their audiences' divided attention, and higher education institutions are no different. Internal campus communications has long bedeviled administrators, communicators, faculty, and staff. It's challenging because it's important. At a time when the number of communications tools and platforms is increasing, it's essential that institutions "be clear about the audiences they're trying to reach and the messages they want to communicate; then they can work out which are the best tools for reaching them." Despite debates over which tools to use and how to keep internal audiences informed and administrators happy as audiences expand, the good news for internal communications professionals is that they're not alone. In fact, they're in the same boat as most communications professionals, the media, and anyone else trying to reach an audience. And as those audiences are increasingly feeling bombarded by the influx of information they receive on a daily basis from several directions and platforms, the choice isn't to give up, but to get smarter. It's not easy, but then again neither is staying relevant, interesting, and engaging. No matter the platform, as in the rest of the communications world, internal communicators will need to rely on a number of tools to engage their constituencies. Nearly everything an institution wants to communicate and that employees need or want to know may soon be no farther away than their smartphone or mobile device. When an employee can be that easily informed and engaged, one can't think of a better situation for internal communicators.

This is an abbreviation of the author's dissertation. Because integrated marketing communication (IMC) research has traditionally been problematic, this study used an existing scale to determine that higher educational institutional advancement (alumni, marketing-communications, development) is an appropriate venue to study the process model of IMC. Responses from practitioners representing every department within advancement, every regional accrediting body and each of the baccalaureate to doctoral Carnegie Classification levels indicated the IMC process model is both understood and its tenets practiced by practitioners at all sizes and levels of institution. In addition, because IMC is criticized as theoretically weak, this study demonstrates the multi-dimensional construct of IMC can be examined through a source-message-receiver lens, thereby contributing the basic underpinning of much communication theory as a possible core for studying the process model. The study collected and analyzed descriptive data regarding the function of institutional advancement within US institutions of higher education and its practitioners. Practitioners representing baccalaureate institutions agreed most to the IMC dimensions of differentiated communications and database-centered communications. Practitioners representing doctoral institutions had the highest agreement on the dimension of unified communications and those representing master's institutions had the most agreement on the relationship-fostering dimension. Summary statement: US baccalaureate to doctoral institutions' advancement practitioners' survey responses demonstrated an understanding of the best practice concepts inherent in the IMC model. It seems that more than 50 years of at least one professional development organization educating its members about best practices stemming from many disciplines, including advertising, marketing and public relations, overlapping with more than 20 years of various industries' trade publications espousing the benefits of IMC, have led to great interest at the practitioner level, the level where individuals focus on outputs and processes. However, the criticisms of IMC at the academic level are all too valid--there is no definitive definition nor is there a definitive measure, especially one that can easily be adapted to fit all types of industries and practitioners that may benefit from incorporating the process model. That IMC as a monolithic concept is difficult to examine is not in question. Still, the secondary and primary research in this study seems to indicate that both practitioners and scholars should continue current efforts. (Contains 4 figures and 6 tables.)

It's hard to underestimate how crucial the board is in setting an institution's direction. In the United States, the boards of public and private institutions have wildly divergent characteristics. Boards at public institutions are typically smaller than those at private institutions. Board members of public institutions are usually appointed by a state governor, while board members at private institutions are recruited and selected. Advancement teams will always have some responsibility for the board's fundraising activities, whether it's through a development committee of a private board or a foundation board associated with a public institution. In each case, advancement professionals would do well to remember that, while the board may seem removed from their day-to-day duties, it is, in fact, the ultimate boss. Not all board members assume that advancement will be a part of their jobs. Many boards outside of North America do not have a history of fundraising. But until 2008, board members were prohibited from having a hand in university financing. A French law that went into effect in 2008 finally allowed public schools to create fundraising foundations. But according to Marie-Stephane Maradeix, Ecole Polytechnique's campaign director, trustees have been slow to embrace the new advancement culture. In this article, the author stresses that working closely with the board is essential to advancement.

It makes headlines nearly every day: U.S. cities, counties, and states are grappling with record budget shortfalls. Given the economic climate, many higher education administrators recognize that their institutions need to be more vocal and creative in providing and promoting the value they bring to their communities--not just to hold on to existing funding but to fight attempts by local governments to extract new fees and payments. In many places, nonprofit institutions--primarily colleges and universities but hospitals and cultural organizations as well--are being asked to make voluntary contributions that are often referred to as "payments in lieu of taxes" (PILOTs), to help cover the cost of many of the public services these entities use, such as police and fire protection, sanitation, and street maintenance. Over the past decade, at least 117 municipalities in 18 states have pressed nonprofits to make voluntary payments, according to a recent study by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Some institutions have been making voluntary payments for years, steadily increasing their contributions as the city's needs grow. Many colleges and universities are working on improving their communications and tooting their own horns, even if they face no immediate threat of a PILOT. Many institutions are turning to advertising, public relations efforts, even focus groups, to make their case. No matter the method they choose, the principles they are following are fundamentally the same.

Fight songs such as "The Victors" and "Notre Dame Victory March" have become part of the American music lexicon. Along with their sister songs, alma maters, they stir memories of carefree college days, elicit feelings of pride, and sometimes--especially fight songs--poke fun at athletic foes. They are the embodiment of tradition at U.S. colleges and universities. However, not all fight songs and alma maters are in perfect harmony with students, alumni, or the public. In recent years, some fight songs have devolved into fighting words, and alma maters have become lightning rods for controversy, demanding the time and attention of college and university alumni relations and public relations directors. Though no one plans for a controversy over a fight song or alma mater, having a crisis communications plan is essential for such circumstances. It helps leadership throughout the campus look at the issue from the eyes of how the media might interpret it.

Standard media coverage of higher education hasn't changed that much since the 1940s, and it doesn't serve the core functions of higher education well. US news media could not maintain their anti-intellectualism without widespread public acceptance, but schools of journalism must accept their share of the blame. US journalists historically came from bluecollar backgrounds; nineteenth-century newspapers were staffed by one or two college-graduate editors and high school-dropout reporters. The percentage of US journalists with college degrees did not reach 50 percent until about 1970 but has kept increasing since then. Today, close to 100 percent of journalists have bachelors' degrees and well over 50 percent have journalism degrees. Journalism schools thus had a historic opportunity to become a pro-intellectual force in US mass media. They largely failed. Recently, journalism-school curricula have become more anti-intellectual, as courses in media history, media management, and public-affairs reporting have been marginalized or eliminated. In their place have come an explosion of courses, majors, and endowed chairs in sports journalism, sports information and public relations, sports marketing, and even sports management; in e-commerce; and in web design, animation, computer games, and other fields that involve both communication and technology. If US higher education's future is dependent on mass public opinion, that mass public opinion is largely dependent on the news media, and journalism is a counterintuitively anti-intellectual profession staffed primarily by graduates of anti-intellectual journalism schools, it is no surprise that public funding of higher education was declining "before" the Great Recession, that graduation rates barely creep up, and that what members of the general public know about universities is usually limited to their semiprofessional sports programs (which are incorrectly assumed to be profitable). The author contends that US colleges and universities, including their journalism schools, need to improve their products: their curricula and their graduates.

In his inaugural address, U.S. President Barack Obama linked the need to demonstrate accountability and transparency to the earning of trust. His connection of these dots is not surprising, since taxpayers often expect accountability and transparency from their governments, just as governments, donors, alumni, and students expect accountability and transparency from the educational institutions they support. But there's a major difference. Governments that lose the trust of their citizens still collect taxes. When educational institutions lose the trust of their constituents, they may also lose funding, enrollment, volunteers, and advocates--the concrete support of committed stakeholders. Campus communicators at public as well as private institutions understand their role in earning the trust of their constituents and know that to earn trust, they must demonstrate institutional accountability. But that isn't to say it is always easy. In fact, communicators have been grappling with this issue for a number of years. But many communicators find it challenging to demonstrate accountability and transparency because of increasing pressures by the number and varied interests of campus constituents. This article discusses how campus communicators can play a critical role in helping their institutions demonstrate accountability by staying attuned to the external environment, identifying issues, defining strategies, developing and delivering messages, and engaging constituents in the discussion.

Throughout the planning process for a school district merger in a northwestern Pennsylvania school district, effective communication proved to be a challenge. Formed in 1932, this school district of approximately 1400 students was part of a utopian community; one established by a transportation system's corporation that was a major industrial presence in the United States and northwestern Pennsylvania. Hence, the corporation provided an ideal community for its employees and their families. However, the significant social and economic changes that occurred on a global level over the past 75 years, ultimately spared neither this corporation, nor the school district. That said, the corporation generously supported both the community and the school system until the early 1980s when the effects of a downturn in the economy, and associated factors (e.g., the impact of high labor costs, the decline of the rust belt manufacturing business) were felt. Between 1982 and 1998, the corporation's proportion of support for the district dropped from 40% to 9.5% of total tax revenue. Subsequently, these circumstances forced the school district to confront ensuing short- and long-term problems. This article describes how the economic and fiscal situation forced this district and its community to examine alternative ways to sustain their educational programs, including the possibility of merging with another school district.

It's official: Online social networking is mainstream. Once the domain of teenagers and techno-geeks, sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter are rapidly gaining popularity with the multi-aged masses. Last year, in fact, Facebook reported its fastest growing demographic was those 25 years and older. There's no question that this new communications medium holds tantalizing possibilities for increasing and deepening alumni connections. But many alumni professionals are scratching their heads, trying to figure out where this not-so-recent phenomenon fits into an already established alumni program. Is online social networking a flashy distraction or a promising development? Should it be considered part of the regular array of alumni benefits and services, or is it separate and distinct? Why should alumni organizations jump in to this brave new world and how can they take those first steps? In this article, six alumni professionals--all early adopters of online social networking--offer their thoughts on these questions. Participating in the conversation from the United States were Andrew Shaindlin, executive director of alumni relations at California Institute of Technology; Louis Alexander, director of alumni education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Charlie Melichar, vice president for public relations and communications at Colgate University in New York. Chiming in from the U.K. were Ian Moore, head of alumni relations at Coventry University, and Ben Fitch, alumni development manager at Oxford Brookes University. And participating from Australia was Shaun McDonagh, director of marketing and communications at the University of Queensland.

Increasingly, U.S. colleges and universities are reaching out locally, nationally, and internationally to a variety of audiences, articulating their important role in society. One major objective of this outreach is to attract the financial resources that will enable these institutions to achieve their educational aspirations. One might imagine that, of all the constituencies being tapped by institutions, alumni would be the bedrock of financial and moral support. After all, they experienced firsthand the educational environment and arguably benefited from the experience. Yet, there are fewer than 20 colleges and universities in the United States in which at least half of the alumni contribute financially to their alma mater in any given year. And the trend is heading downward, not up. Building a strong base of alumni support (financial and otherwise) requires a strategy that draws upon the full resources of the entire advancement team. Success also depends on the active involvement and support of the president, deans, administrators, faculty, and students. Alumni must be cultivated while they are students. They need to be educated about their lifelong affiliation with the institution and the role they will play in the life and perpetuation of the institution. On the institutional side, alumni programs must move beyond the perception that they just plan social functions. Alumni associations need to educate alumni about where the institution is going, how it plans to get there, and what success will mean to the institution. Alumni must be invited to be part of this journey. Colleges and universities will always need to reach out to the broader community to attract resources. On the way, they should not forget to "reach in" to the young men and women who have the potential to be their best leaders, their most generous supporters, and their strongest advocates. (Contains 2 charts.)

This study examines performance among public higher education boards, describing the results from a national study. The research questions that framed the study were: What are the elements of high performance/effectiveness in public higher education governing boards? How does performance among public higher education boards compare to the research on effectiveness among private high education boards, non profit, and corporate boards? After a review of the extant literature/research on board performance, the results of the study (six major themes: board agenda/leadership, influential individuals, structure, relationship, culture, and external relations) are presented. Next, a model for creating high performing boards is described before the implications for improving board performance and areas of future research are discussed. The following are appended: (1) Protocol for Public Governing Board Interviews; (2) Unique performance features of public higher education governing boards; (3) Table comparing the deductive themes from the literature and inductive themes that emerged in the data; and (4) Comparison of models of the effectiveness for governing board performance. (Contains 1 table and 9 endnotes.)

Pfizer, Inc. (hereinafter Pfizer), a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company, states that it is committed to being an "exemplary corporate citizen" that is "dedicated to discovering and developing innovative medicines and making them available to people all around the world." Pfizer boasts about its philanthropic focus, yet, like any for-profit organization, Pfizer has a responsibility to its shareholders to be profitable. Pfizer must balance its obligations to its shareholders with its stated philanthropic vision, while also being mindful of the public relations ramifications of its decisions. This article presents a business case developed to encourage business students to consider the legal and ethical ramifications of Pfizer's handling of three drugs in the international context. Part I of this article consists of a case study involving actual issues confronting Pfizer. The case is structured around key events regarding the use of three of Pfizer's pharmaceutical products which involve different legal and ethical considerations. The assignment at the end of the case is designed to prompt students to identify legal and ethical issues confronting the company, analyze the issues, and then propose solutions for Pfizer. Part II of this article is a teaching note, which includes learning objectives, potential uses of the case, a discussion about each of the assigned case questions, and suggestions regarding evaluation of the assignment. (Contains 115 footnotes.)

Purpose: International schools are a growing class of educational institution. It has been suggested that few schools of this type have a marketing plan whilst research into development planning showed that few had a long-range plan. This paper aims to investigate these issues. Design/methodology/approach: This paper deals with a survey of 32 international schools in 22 different countries. The public relations practitioner in each was questioned as to the nature of the marketing planning process. Findings: Half of the schools had a marketing plan. Few had a one-year one, and few had a cyclical one with stages. Several had dispensed with such a plan. The major aim of marketing planning was to attract more students. There was little evidence of it being a strategic process. Few schools involved the whole school body. Research limitations/implications: This involved a small-scale survey of international schools at a time when student numbers were high. This survey failed to take into account the growth of this type of school in mainland China. Practical implications: It is suggested that perhaps some international schools might focus more on non-rational planning and scenario-building techniques. Making more contact with the local community might also be beneficial as a strategic marketing aim. Originality/value: This paper furthers the understanding of the nature and organizational culture of international schools. It builds upon earlier research into development planning in this type of school.

Every college and university institutional advancement office would like to point to eminent alumni, living or deceased, as part of the institution's cultural legacy. However, little is known about the dynamics of how eminent alumni influence the reputations of their alma maters, particularly in the age of the internet. Has the internet created a new set of conditions that can level the playing field, providing new opportunities for younger institutions with few claims to eminent alumni? Or does the internet merely magnify advantages that older, well-established and endowed institutions already enjoy? This paper addresses this issue with new data on the internet visibility of institutions and their most eminent alumni, that is, US presidents.

Education in the 21st century must respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse school community and all of its stakeholders. Changes in both the United States and the broader global society call for updated knowledge and new skills. The primary goal of school community relations is to create an understanding among everyone in a community regarding the benefits of education and the gains inherent to a society that supports education for all. Using the precepts and strategies of the community education process can ensure the success of a school community relations initiative.

The "Brown v. Board of Education" decision defined public education for African Americans in the United States. In this article I discuss the tradition of African American parental involvement in the pre-"Brown" era, challenges to parental involvement in a post-"Brown" era, and a parental involvement initiative in an urban elementary school. I conclude with a discussion of the continued imperative for African American parental involvement and some implications for leadership.

The 50th anniversary of "Brown v. Board of Education" in 1954 also recalls the anniversary of "Lau v. Nichols", decided exactly 20 years later in 1974. The two decisions were monumental in the history of civil rights and, interestingly, have shared similarities in the ways in which they have been reinterpreted since they were first decided several decades ago. The history of both of these decisions reminds us that the struggle for civil rights in the United States is not over. The great promise of this democracy is an equal opportunity to affect the decisions and the laws that rule our lives. The great challenge is to make good on that promise. "Brown v. Board of Education" and "Lau v. Nichols" are both morality tales about the inherent difficulty of sustaining minority rights in the face of majority interests. In this chapter, the authors argue that the two cases have been intertwined in interesting ways and that three types of strategies have been used to undermine both decisions: legal, regulatory, and public relations. In concert, these strategies have been at least moderately effective in undoing the promise of equity that each decision represented. [This article represents Chapter 2 of "Brown's Influence on Education and Education Research: Critical Insights, Uneven Implementation, and Unanticipated Consequences", "Review of Research in Education", v28, 2004 (EJ748129).]

Investigates impact of national culture on interorganizational relationships among organizations. Matches 35 Japanese and American companies by their business types. Reveals that the network of shared public relations firms was loosely connected--American companies were more central. Indicates the network structure of shared public relations firms was influenced by differences in national cultures and business types. (PA)

Argues that the form and function of presidential foreign policy rhetoric are grounded in a nation's acceptable images of political reality. Examines the rhetorical responses of Presidents Reagan and Mitterrand to the terrorist bombing in Beirut and to acts of military interventions by the United States and France in Grenada and Chad. (JD)

The report filed by senior European university administrators after their visit to U.S. universities examines the movement toward entrepreneurialism and the related issues of administrative organization and change, planning and financial management, client relations, delivery systems, technology transfer, government-school relations, and the consequences for the institution. (MSE)

Examines the basic ethical and moral values of public relations practitioners, emphasizing the sender in the communication process. Finds that the structure of moral values in the North American public relations person includes the influences of socio-economics, religion, social responsibility, and finances. (MS)

The development and current status of Friends of the Library groups in Canada and the United States are discussed. Suggestions for forming a group and fostering cooperation between the Friends and the library are offered. The resulting benefits to the library and the community are explored. (25 references) (CLB)

Presents results from a survey of public relations programs in the United States and Canada commissioned by the Association for Communication Administration. Discusses the findings in light of the recommendations made by the 1987 Commission on Undergraduate Public Relations Education. (MS)

An evaluation of annual budget reports from 63 large U.S. and Canadian school districts identifies ways to improve the reports' public relations effectiveness, notes four basic communications tenets they should follow, and makes six suggestions, including explaining how budget decisions are made, supplying background data, and playing to the media. (Author/RW)

The article shows that the submerged nature of the U.S. administrative state in its communications with the public and lack of awareness of policy outputs that undermines public trust in government. Topics discussed include public reputation crisis brought by government failure and ideological assault, as well as legal, resource and political constraints to agency communications, building of salient administrative expertise and enhancement of public participation, and perils of agency salience.

How does the American public understand the term chaplain? What fraction interact with chaplains and in what settings? What is the content of those interactions and do care recipients find them valuable? We answer these questions with data from a nationally representative survey (N = 1096) conducted in March 2022 and interviews with a subset (N = 50) of survey recipients who interacted with chaplains. We find that people in the United States do not have a consistent understanding of the term chaplain. Based on our definition, at least 18% of Americans have interacted with a chaplain. Among those who interacted with a chaplain as defined in the survey, the majority did so through healthcare organizations. Care recipients include people who were ill and their visitors/caregivers. The most common types of support received were prayer, listening and comfort. Overall, survey respondents found chaplains to be moderately or very valuable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Media outlets that report on firearm injuries and deaths may provide an important role in emphasizing safe storage practices, particularly when unintentional firearm injuries and deaths occur among young children. There has been a scarcity of research on aspects of media reports on injuries, particularly concerning prevention messaging. The objective of the present study was to examine prevention messaging on the safe storage of firearms among media outlets when reporting on unintentional firearm injury deaths among children aged 0–11. Methods: The Gun Violence Archive collects information from media sources regarding firearm injuries and deaths. We analyzed data from 2021 to 2022 to analyze prevention messaging incorporated into the media reports. We then examined if media reporting of events that occurred in States with child access prevention (CAP) laws had a higher likelihood of including prevention messaging compared to those events occurring in States without CAP laws. Results: There were 223 deaths reported that were attributed to unintentional firearm discharge among children aged 0–11. Prevention messages were delivered in 61 of the 223 incidents. Specific messages which included the word "lock" when referring to firearm storage were included in 21.9% of all incidents. An analysis examining State CAP laws and the presence of any prevention message per event did not yield any discernable relationship. Conclusion: Inclusion of prevention messaging stating that firearms should be stored locked and unloaded when reporting on unintentional firearm injury deaths among children is lacking. When specific prevention messaging was included, the source was often law enforcement. Public health officials may play an important role in educating the journalistic and law enforcement communities about the inclusion of safe storage messages when reporting on firearm deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respect for parents' values and clinician–parent collaboration is less common among families from historically marginalized communities. We investigated how parents from marginalized communities operationalize health and their preferences for paediatric primary care. We recruited families who spoke English, Haitian Creole or Spanish with at least one child younger than 6 years old. Staff queried families' values and life experiences, perspectives on health and healthcare, social supports and resources. Fourteen interviews with the parents of 26 children were thematically analysed. Interviews revealed the following four themes: (1) parents' definitions of 'health' extend beyond physical health; (2) families' ability to actuate health definitions is complicated by poverty's impact on agency; (3) parents engage in ongoing problem recognition and identify solutions, but enacting solutions can be derailed by barriers and (4) parents want support from professionals and peers who acknowledged the hard work of parenting. Eliciting parents' multidimensional conceptualizations of health can support families' goal achievement and concern identification in the context of isolation, limited agency and few resources. Efforts to improve family centred care and reduce disparities in paediatric primary care must be responsive to the strengths, challenges, resources and priorities of marginalized families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Urban organic waste diverted from landfills for use as compost feedstock may help mitigate and adapt to the effects of our changing climate. Yet, compost produced from urban food and yard waste is often a source of contaminants harmful to human and environmental health. Efforts by multiple municipalities are increasing residential and commercial food and yard waste collection; however, finished, tested compost is typically unavailable to those contributing the waste and whose gardens would benefit. OBJECTIVES: This commentary evaluates the relative equity and safety of U.S. organic waste cycles in relation to urban and peri-urban agriculture (UA) and waste stewardship. We a) explore historical structures that have led to siloed food and waste systems and b) provide recommendations to promote safer compost production from urban organic waste inputs. The engagement of intersectional partners in the creation of equitable policies and contracts that integrate food and waste justice is crucial to this work. METHODS: A 15-y relationship between community, academic, and government partners in Boston, Massachusetts, has increased access to health-promoting community gardens. Historical concerns raised by gardeners resulted in improvement to the quality of compost sourced from municipal organic waste and motivated a case study of Boston and three other cities (Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; New York, New York). This case study provides the approaches used to source, collect, process, test, and deliver urban organic waste as compost for UA. It informed recommendations to improve the safety and equity of organic waste-to-compost cycles. DISCUSSION: Strict feedstock regulation and required compost safety testing are essential to produce safe, city-sourced compost. Balancing the needs of landfill diversion with equitable distribution to all contributors, particularly low-income and food-insecure people, will help concentrate UA benefits within marginalized communities. Adoption of a public health lens may help ensure the safety of nutrient-rich compost available for urban growers through legislation at state and local levels, along with explicit industry contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effectiveness of the Veterans Administration's (VA) public relations and the effectiveness of advertisements of its suicide hotline, which is called the veterans crisis line (VCL). Using the organization-public relations theory (OPR) this study examined whether known failures of VA marketing campaigns for the VCL could be related to public relations factors. This study found that the VA suffers from a negative perception with veterans, and this translated into lower support for the VCL compared to another suicide hotline. This study concludes that ineffective public relations may indeed be a factor in the reluctance of veterans in crisis to call the VCL for life saving mental health support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the challenges faced by work-integrated learning (WIL) educators, recruiting, selecting, and retaining outside organizations as 'clients' or 'community partners' to work with students looms large. The gap between classroom needs and professional practice often leads to a tangle of unrealistic expectations. These challenges grow even more acute given that faculty often lack the experience, skill, time, and resources critical for fostering partnerships with organizations. To gain a clearer sense of the challenges involved, this article considers the body of literature on one course taught at U.S. universities: the public relations campaigns, with a specific focus on clients. The intention is twofold: first, it aims to identify opportunities for future research on the course to fill gaps in best practices for faculty working with client organizations; and second, to show how these course-specific issues echo, and potentially expand upon, challenges WIL professionals grapple with regardless of what they teach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is much discussion in the literature regarding the role public child welfare has played in disproportionately intervening with children and families of color, and debate regarding how this has impacted their wellbeing and the role systemic racism has played. The voice of individuals serving as regional and state-level administrators of public child welfare agencies regarding this topic and how to address existing inequities has been missing in this dialogue. This paper reports on semi-structured interviews conducted with sixteen such administrators regarding where they have observed these issues in their agencies and a wide array of strategies they believe have the best likelihood of promoting racial equity and antiracist practice in the child welfare system, with some describing approaches currently being implemented. Participants discussed what they need from community and university partners to support this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the history of Straight Talk, a sex education curriculum introduced into US. high schools in the mid-1980s. Straight Talk was sponsored by Ortho Pharmaceutical, who offered the program as a "public service" to combat the socalled epidemic of teenage pregnancy that had inspired panic on both sides of the political spectrum. In fact, Straight Talk was part of a campaign to promote Ortho's newest product: the low-dose, multiphasic pill Ortho - Novum 7 /7 /7. Drawing on media reports, curricular materials and public relations (PR) documents, I argue that Straight Talk is a prime example of shadow marketing" in the pharmaceutical industry, in which companies use PR strategies to skirt regulations on direct-to-consumer advertising. While on the surface Straight Talk looked like a typical comprehensive sex education curriculum, its bias toward the Pill-in particular, the low-dose multiphasic pill-belied Ortho's claims of neutrality. The curriculum's promotion of the Pill also came at the expense of other contraceptive methods, such as the condom, a troubling omission in the age of HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African American families face significant racial barriers to their educational attainment. Within the experience of schooling specifically, anti-Black oppressive forces manifest in both structural and interpersonal forms, and existing challenges have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Black families have consistently developed strategies for navigating racialized educational barriers. Moreover, their own agency has been enhanced through engagement with justice-oriented community partnerships. The current study captures how a reciprocal university-community partnership advanced African American parent agency before and during the pandemic. The history of the partnership is first detailed, followed by a qualitative study of data from six parent focus groups regarding parents' perceptions of barriers to educational success across public and private school contexts, their own efforts to overcome those barriers, and the role of the community university partnership in advancing the families' educational aims. Findings reveal ecologically distinct racialized barriers in public and private school settings, with economic barriers transcending educational contexts. Black parents navigated these barriers with adaptative strategies across parent involvement domains. Implications for research, practice, and university-community partnerships are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]