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Building links between practitioners and academics

Hello all, happy Tuesday! After a somewhat long career in the corporate and agency worlds, I joined the public relations faculty at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

In attempting to bridge these two seemingly disparate worlds, I’ve been shocked at the disconnect between what we teach and study in colleges versus how the “real world” operates.

PR-Bridge.com is my attempt at providing insight into how the two areas might better serve one another, a goal in the classes I teach.

As the site develops, I’m going to ask professionals from both sides of the fence to provide guest commentary. I also invite all interested parties to interact at your convenience.

The idealist in me believes that working together to solve common “challenges” will result in a more interesting communications world.

 I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks,

Bob

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 21:00 and is filed under Main Page. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

11 Responses to “Building links between practitioners and academics”

  1. Karen Says:
    September 7th, 2007 at 17:20

    Bob, welcome to the blogosphere and especially the PR teaching corner of it. :-) I’ve added you to my PR educators blog roll and look forward to reading your blog.

  2. Bob Batchelor Says:
    September 8th, 2007 at 17:55

    Hi Karen, thanks for being the first to comment at PR-Bridge! I appreciate it and particularly from a fellow educator.

  3. Dwayne Waite Says:
    September 11th, 2007 at 17:27

    Hi Bob,

    I actually wrote a blog post about that very same subject; however it’s written from the students’ point of view. We see the disparity as well between our classes and our internships; hopefully with professionals like you, the gap will close.

    Check out the post at http://www.prssa.org/blog

  4. Bob Batchelor Says:
    September 11th, 2007 at 19:36

    Dear Dwayne, Thanks for alerting me to your post. I appreciate reading your insightful comments on the disparity between what students are learning in classes and at internships. I feel my students are in the same boat, but hopefully we can do all that is necessary to prepare them for the work world.

    Thanks,
    Bob

  5. Richard Becker Says:
    September 13th, 2007 at 06:04

    Bob,

    As someone who sometimes work with my feet in both arenas, I look forward to see what you have the offer in the months ahead. We used to frequently staff interns too. The disparity certainly exists. In my classes during the last couple years, I always tried to match theory with practical applications. It seems to help.

    Best,
    Rich

  6. Bob Batchelor Says:
    September 14th, 2007 at 17:41

    Hi Richard, I’m happy to hear that there are people like you out there teaching, working, and giving back to students. I wonder if they recognize or fully appreciate it? I think they do, but maybe that will be the topic of a future post.

    Have a great day!

    Thanks,
    Bob

  7. Richard Becker Says:
    September 16th, 2007 at 03:36

    Hi Bob,

    I can answer that question from own experience. I know they do! I recently spoke to students who were considering entering the program offered by the UNLV and three former students were there.

    All three were very appreciative, but one stood out. She came up straight away and said “I need to thank you for two things. 1. Telling me the truth, because I was better prepared. 2. The letter of recommendation helped me get the job I have now and I love it.”

    What’s better than that? Nothing. She one of dozens that I have reconnected with or remained in contact with over the years.

    You have a great day too. All my best,
    Rich

  8. Melanie Formentin Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 18:59

    Bob,

    I just wanted to leave a comment and say Hi and that I’m finally on board. I’m very excited to see that you have this up and running and I look forward to following the blog’s progress. One of my greater interests while in undergrad was identifying and understanding the gaps that exist between the academic and practitioner worlds, and as I begin grad school, I think it will be great to combine your insights into my studies.

    As always, take care and talk soon,
    Melanie

  9. gazeteler Says:
    November 16th, 2011 at 10:34

    Have a great day

  10. turkchat Says:
    November 16th, 2011 at 10:34

    have reconnected with or remained in contact with over the years.

  11. oyun Says:
    November 29th, 2011 at 17:21

    I’d really appreciate it. I really liked this site. I will follow you always.
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