Contingent of Professor
I think we're entering the "chicken or the egg" area here. What Talbot has that our department doesn't have is lots of students in its PR program. The Seminary can't justify bringing on another full-time prof when there's only a couple dozen students in the entire program at DenSem. In order to take the leap of faith that it would require in order to bring on another full-time prof they (the seminary big whigs) must also see some prospect at increasing numbers in the program.
Here's where I think that we students can best use our energy - recruiting. By that I don't simply mean that each of us needs to find more full-time MA PR students. I mean that we need to do all that we can to assist the MA PR program's recruiting efforts. The entire recruiting process at DenSem is a little haphazard (IMHO). Those who go on recruiting trips are not trained in any way. If they don't know anything about the MA PR program, they probably won't push it when they're out at schools recruiting. I know that Elizabeth Sausele (Director of Student Recruitment) definitely pushes the program when she's out, but what about the student recruiters? This brings me to my first recommendation: I think that those of us who have flexible enough schedules should volunteer to be student recruiters.
Next, I think that we should take our concerns about recruiter training to the DenSem student council. When I used to recruit for the aerospace company I worked for, we had to undergo a minimum of one day of training - 1/2 on how to recruit in general and 1/2 on the various areas within the company that we would be recruiting for. This in no way made us an expert on each area, but gave us a base level of understanding as well as a list of contacts within each of those areas that were willing to be contacted by prospective recruits. A basic recruiting trip would consist of talking to a person to see where there interests were, if it was in my area of expertise I would talk in depth with them, or if the person that I was recruiting with (we worked in pairs) was in that area I'd refer the applicant to them. If neither of us was working in that area, we would talk generally from the information we received in our training and direct the potential recruit to literature for that program, which included the contact information for people currently working in that program. If the applicant was willing, we would take their contact information and have someone from that department contact them to explain the job more fully. How cool would that be, getting a phone call from Dr. G to talk more about the MA PR program? I've broached the training (or lack thereof) with Dr. G and he said that he would be more than happy to set aside a half-day each year or semester (whatever's appropriate) to help train the student recruiters on the MA PR program.
Next, we should develop innovative ideas for recruiting new students for the MA PR program. What this looks like I don't know. It should be a completely wide open brain storming session. Then we could bring the results to the DenSem administration for implementation. Those that don't require financial backing by the seminary, we should implement ourselves. Maybe we can begin our own guerilla PR recruiting campaign.
The final thing I think that we need to do is encourage the seminary to decide what the future roadmap is for the MA programs (other than CO which seems to have a strong base of support). My end goal from these discussions would be a "money where your mouth is" investment in the MA PR program. If the numbers aren't there to support another full-time prof, then put the money into recruiting (advertise more than just cheesy half-page ads in Christianity Today).
My ideal outcome would be a new commitment from DenSem to the MA PR program. This commitment would consist of hiring another full-time prof to start Fall 2004 in concert with a focused effort to recruit more PR students.
Thoughts?
Here's where I think that we students can best use our energy - recruiting. By that I don't simply mean that each of us needs to find more full-time MA PR students. I mean that we need to do all that we can to assist the MA PR program's recruiting efforts. The entire recruiting process at DenSem is a little haphazard (IMHO). Those who go on recruiting trips are not trained in any way. If they don't know anything about the MA PR program, they probably won't push it when they're out at schools recruiting. I know that Elizabeth Sausele (Director of Student Recruitment) definitely pushes the program when she's out, but what about the student recruiters? This brings me to my first recommendation: I think that those of us who have flexible enough schedules should volunteer to be student recruiters.
Next, I think that we should take our concerns about recruiter training to the DenSem student council. When I used to recruit for the aerospace company I worked for, we had to undergo a minimum of one day of training - 1/2 on how to recruit in general and 1/2 on the various areas within the company that we would be recruiting for. This in no way made us an expert on each area, but gave us a base level of understanding as well as a list of contacts within each of those areas that were willing to be contacted by prospective recruits. A basic recruiting trip would consist of talking to a person to see where there interests were, if it was in my area of expertise I would talk in depth with them, or if the person that I was recruiting with (we worked in pairs) was in that area I'd refer the applicant to them. If neither of us was working in that area, we would talk generally from the information we received in our training and direct the potential recruit to literature for that program, which included the contact information for people currently working in that program. If the applicant was willing, we would take their contact information and have someone from that department contact them to explain the job more fully. How cool would that be, getting a phone call from Dr. G to talk more about the MA PR program? I've broached the training (or lack thereof) with Dr. G and he said that he would be more than happy to set aside a half-day each year or semester (whatever's appropriate) to help train the student recruiters on the MA PR program.
Next, we should develop innovative ideas for recruiting new students for the MA PR program. What this looks like I don't know. It should be a completely wide open brain storming session. Then we could bring the results to the DenSem administration for implementation. Those that don't require financial backing by the seminary, we should implement ourselves. Maybe we can begin our own guerilla PR recruiting campaign.
The final thing I think that we need to do is encourage the seminary to decide what the future roadmap is for the MA programs (other than CO which seems to have a strong base of support). My end goal from these discussions would be a "money where your mouth is" investment in the MA PR program. If the numbers aren't there to support another full-time prof, then put the money into recruiting (advertise more than just cheesy half-page ads in Christianity Today).
My ideal outcome would be a new commitment from DenSem to the MA PR program. This commitment would consist of hiring another full-time prof to start Fall 2004 in concert with a focused effort to recruit more PR students.
Thoughts?
posted by Unknown at
6:43:00 AM
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