From left, IABC Phoenix members Mark Estes, Leslie Beckhoff, DeEtte Person, Jean Christofferson and Julia Wallace SmithSeventeen ASU Cronkite PR Lab students met with IABC Phoenix members Tuesday, April 12, to present what they are learning and doing in the PR Lab this semester.
The PR Lab students work two full days in the lab during the semester and are assigned real client projects. Lisa Schmidtke is the director and professor for the PR Lab.
To be eligible to work in the PR Lab, students must have completed prerequisite courses and be a junior, senior or graduate student.
From left, Fulbright Foreign Student Scholar and PR Lab Graduate Assistant Razmik Sargsyan, PR Lab Director and Professor Lisa Schmidtke, and IABC Phoenix VP Professional Development and Events Leslie BeckhoffSchmidtke said they work with external clients, such as the Phoenix Suns, Yubico and a pharmaceutical company in New York. These clients are retained for one or two semesters.
This semester, the PR Lab has 31 students enrolled. The students work in small teams and are assigned a client. They have 16 weeks to plan a strategy and execute the plan. The PR Lab students have won many industry awards in the past for their work. All the seniors in this year’s class have already been offered jobs when they graduate.
IABC Phoenix members were also given a tour of the ASU Cronkite sports news and news labs and the digital audiences lab. The tour also included seeing where Arizona PBS broadcasts.