Counterfeiting the College Experience: Studying Public Relations Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jillian Peyton*
Reed College of Media, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Presentation Category: Human Engagement (Oral Presentation)

Student’s Major: Advertising and Public Relations

The Public Relations Society of America defines the professional practice of public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their public” (About Public Relations, n.d.). Public relations is vital to the success of a business or brand. Moreover, an organization is much less likely to accept the recommendations of public relations practitioners if they are not perceived as well-informed practitioners who know their practice well (Nolte, 1979). Coinciding with the sudden transition to online classes in early 2020, higher education students who lived on campus before the outbreak generally found it difficult to adjust to online learning (Blankstein et al., 2020). Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that this adjustment to an online format for higher education classes has the potential to negatively impact students, including those who are studying public relations. To analyze the general ramifications of COVID-19 on public relations students, I recorded daily notes detailing my perspective and my experiences as a public relations student at West Virginia University during the fall 2020 semester, the second semester to be drastically affected by the pandemic. These qualitative findings will be analyzed and represented through auto-ethnography, a personal experience method of social science purposed with capturing “those elements that make life conflictual, moving, problematic” (Lincoln and Guba, 2005). Utilizing this method, I hope to illustrate the challenges I face and my progress as an aspiring public relations practitioner during a global crisis.

Funding: Not funded

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course