Department of Advertising and Public Relations hosts 2022 AdPR Week

Grady College’s Department of Advertising and Public Relations will celebrate its 8th annual week-long celebration of National AdPR Week Oct. 3 – 7.

This year’s AdPR week will feature a lineup of engaging activities and presentations by alumni and industry leaders to facilitate students’ networking and professional development opportunities.

To kick off the celebration, AdPR is featuring its third annual AdPR Giving Day Campaign, asking alumni and friends of the Department to contribute to the AdPR Excellence Fund on Oct. 3. This year’s goal is to engage and achieve 50 donors within 24 hours. Many AdPR students rely upon scholarship support to enhance their education and professional development. Gifts collected on this AdPR Giving Day tackle this issue by inviting alumni and friends to contribute to a permanent scholarship for AdPR students.

“We need the support from our alumni and friends to achieve the goal of the Giving Day Campaign,” Dr. Juan Meng, head of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, explained. “To help our students embark on a successful education journey, it is important to provide consistent and sustainable support. This might be a step along the way, but it opens doors for a deep understanding of needs and different ways to engage.”

Events scheduled during the rest of the AdPR Week are dedicated to giving students various opportunities to network and learn from professionals and alumni.  On Oct. 4, a diverse leadership panel, “Closing the Equality Gaps,” sponsored by The Female Quotient, an equality services company that provides thought leadership platforms for women and develops solutions for organizations committed to closing the gender gap in the workplace, will kick off the networking opportunity. Featured panelists include:

• Debbie Ebalobo (ABJ ’10), director of global external and financial communications at The Coca-Cola Company
• Soon Mee Kim, chief diversity, equity & inclusion officer at the Omnicom Communications Consultancy Network
• Roma Desai Patel, founder and CEO at Tejari
• Candii Woodson, director of media strategy at Cricket Wireless

The panel will be moderated by Emily Moody (BA ’19) from The Female Quotient.

On Tuesday evening, members of AdClub and PRSSA will have the opportunity to hear from Amanda Maddox (ABJ ‘10) on Public Affairs Communications. Maddox has been the communications director for a number of House Representatives and Senators of the Federal Government in her career. She currently serves as the managing director at PLUS Communications. She is the guest lecturer of ADPR 5991, Public Affairs Communications in a Federal Context, through the Grady in D.C. program.

On October 5, alumna Christine Shen (BBA ’12), lead for digital analytics at CHANEL, will be making her first return to campus since her graduation. Shen joined CHANEL with over eight years of agency experience leading paid media strategy for Fortune 500 companies such as Samsung, American Express and BMW. Her presentation will focus on brand storytelling and digital communications.

Grady College’s bi-annual Dawgs with the Dean has always been a tradition and highlight during the AdPR Week where Dean Davis dons his apron and provides lunch and entertainment to students, faculty and staff. It is even more special to have this signature event on the College’s new and beautiful Schnitzer Family Media Lawn on Oct. 6. In addition, a virtual industry insiders panel will be hosted in the evening highlighting careers in entertainment marketing.

Finally on Oct. 7, the inaugural AdPR Vision Awards will be accepting applications from AdPR students. The awards will provide one student majoring in advertising and one public relations major with $500 each to be used towards their academic endeavors.

“Increasing participation and engagement during our annually signature AdPR Week can have huge returns on overall reputation of our programs,” said Meng. “We are exploring endless opportunities to integrate our alumni’s presence directly into the campus community to build strong connections. We call for your action. Don’t just be in the community, become a part of it.”

The Department of Advertising and Public Relations remains one of the top programs in the country and has award-winning teaching and research faculty and highly successful alumni who are influencing the world of advertising and public relations by applying the knowledge they gained from a top-notch education at UGA.

AdPR Week will be shared on social media with the hashtag #AdPRide.