BGSU used as case study in new PR textbook

BGSU’s response when six students returning from spring break in Florida were killed in an auto accident is cited as a case study in a new public relations textbook.

The deadly mishap in 2002 on a rain-slicked stretch of Interstate 75 in Kentucky captured widespread attention in the news media. A description of how the University handled the accident’s aftermath appears in the new book, Developing the Public Relations Campaign, A Team-Based Approach, co-authored by Randy Bobbitt of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Ruth Sullivan of Marshall University.

The three-page case study tells how staff in Marketing and Communications, Student Affairs and Residence Life, along with students, worked together to provide information and bring solace to the campus community, particularly to students in the residence hall where all six of the popular coeds lived.

Jill Carr, associate dean of students; Kimberly McBroom, associate vice president for University Advancement and director of Marketing and Communications, and Teri Sharp, media relations director, are quoted in the book.

When requesting the interviews, co-author Bobbitt, who has a Ph.D. from BGSU, said he’d heard about the accident and was impressed with how the University used its Web site to provide information.

The new textbook, published by Allyn and Bacon, is intended for use in advanced college-level “capstone” courses in public relations.