According to Karla Gower, director of the University’s Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations, the idea for the Plank Center originated many years ago with the goal of closing the gap between the practices of public relations and education. In its first year alone, the Center placed three educators in public relations agencies in Home Depot, Ketchum and Inside Edge, according to a press release.

Now, the Plank Center is operating in its second year.

Gower said that this year the Plank Center hopes to place around 10 educators in public relations agencies. She said that while educators are usually eager to become involved, it is often difficult for the practitioners to find time to work with the program.

Gower said press releases about the program are sent out to various organizations and the organizations that are available are those that educators will be matched with. To be eligible, educators must apply to the Plank Center by March 1. Educators selected to participate in the program spend two weeks with the sponsoring agency.

“We found that most people who applied had been teaching for about ten years,” Gower said. “They wanted to see how things had changed.”

Gower also said that creating a dialogue between practitioners and educators is an important part of the goals of the Plank Center. She said that after an educator has spent time with a practitioner, the practitioner might come to the classroom and give a lecture, creating a relationship and exchange of information.

Eyun-Jung Ki, Ph.D., Plank Center Fellow and assistant professor of public relations, spent two weeks last summer in Atlanta with Home Depot’s public relations department.

“It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had,” Ki said.

Ki said that since she is from a different country, she enjoyed learning about a different industry. She attended core meetings and spent time with practitioners, learning more about the skills she has been teaching, she said.

Ki also noted a similar program for advertising educators who want to experience the advertising industry, in which educators spend around a month with advertising corporations, and mentioned that she thinks the programs should expand.

“I think more people should take advantage of this opportunity,” Ki said.

She said that she hopes the Plank Center will select more applicants this year so that more educators get more experience. Ki said she hopes to see this idea and these fresh experiences spread across the state, as well as across the country.

More information can be found at plankcenter.ua.edu.