Conducted a three-hour professional development session some years back with old friend and respected colleague Roger Williams of Penn State University. The session was titled “Climbing Out of Public Relations Hell,” and the participants were asked to develop a list of important tactics for PR folks to consider in enhancing the role of public relations at their institutions. The list:

• Aspire to a public relations counseling role, involvement in institutional strategy and decision-making.
• Capture the marketing function for public relations.
• Improve research and develop more effective measurements of performance.
• Strive for more accountability; affect the “bottom line.”
• Build stronger on-campus relationships; manage expectations of public relations.
• Rebuild the public’s faith in higher education.
• Evaluate your public relations operation to find ways to work smarter.
• Enhance your chief executive’s understanding of and appreciation for public relations.
• Help to change higher education and make it more responsive to the public’s needs.
• Stay ahead of important issues.
• Connect public relations to the behavior of important constituencies.
• Persuade on-campus power brokers of the value of public relations.