cesame pr plan

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CESaME PR Plan, Spring 2012 1

The student-run public relations firm at California Polytechnic State University

Public Relations Plan CESaME

Public Awareness/Outreach Campaign

Kelsey Hollenbeck & Kelsey Shimasaki

Spring 2012

Introduction

CESaME is the University Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education. The

organization works to recruit and prepare students, especially those majoring in engineering,science, and mathematics, to apply to Cal Polys teaching credential program and pursue

careers in education. It is part of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

(STEM) educational program.

Situation Analysis

While CESaME targets students in the college of science and mathematics (COSAM), as well as

the college of engineering (CENG), engineering majors have generally seemed to have less

knowledge of the program and have also been less likely to consider a career in teaching than

COSAM students. Part of the reason for this may be because CESaME has not actively reached

out to engineering students directly, so the students may be unaware of all the program can

offer them if they get involved. CESaME has previously relied almost exclusively on materials

such as posters/fliers and sandwich boards placed around campus to raise awareness of the

program. This has proved to be a somewhat successful method of informing students that the

program exists. However, while students may have a general idea of what CESaME is, many of

them are still unaware of the potential benefits participating in the program may provide them.

One way that CESaME can reach out to more students is through their Facebook page.

CESaMEs Facebook page currently has approximately 80 likes. According to the Fall 2011

survey, most students who expressed interest in CESaME would like to learn more about it

through Facebook. However, CESaMEs Facebook page lacks consistent and meaningfulupdates and is therefore not using it to further inform and involve students as effectively as it

could be.

Strengths:

A major strength of CESaME is that it is already a well-developed program and there is a fairly

large portion of both CENG and COSAM students who have considered a career in teaching.

According to the fall 2011 survey, 56 percent of CENG respondents and 79 percent of COSAM


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respondents have considered a career in teaching. The fact that large percentages of

respondents have considered teaching as a career option is a strength for CESaME because it

means there is the potential to build up much more interest in the program, and a large

audience of prospective teachers to work with.

Another strength is that CESaME and its related programs, such as the Learn By Doing Lab,STAR, and Noyce Scholarship program also offer scholarships and guaranteed placement into

credential programs for qualified students. CESaMEs ability to offer these incentives can help

them achieve the goal of more diverse groups of people earning teaching credentials. The

Learn By Doing Lab and special events such as Try Teaching are strengths because they

provide Cal Poly students with the opportunity to test out teaching and earn credit for it.

Students who attend events, such as Try Teaching, are also eligible to receive prizes, including

free Jamba Juice, flash drives, and iPods. CESaMEs ability to provide these free giveaways is a

strength because students are more motivated to attend an event if they are offered something

in return.

Weaknesses:

One of CESaMEs weaknesses is that interested students often have to do much of the research

about the program on their own, and the places where promotional materials are placed

around campus are limited. Also, many students do not have the time to stop and read wordy

fliers, or extensively research on their own what the program consists of and has to offer.

Opportunities:

CESaME has the opportunity to increase student participation in the program by targeting

students who may not yet be aware that teaching is a career option for them. Freshmen living

in the science and engineering dorms are especially good candidates because there are a large

amount of them in a concentrated environment, and because many of them are still exploringwhat they want to do. There are also a wide variety of on campus organizations that CESaME

can specifically target in order to increase the diversity of credential applicants, including the

Society of Women Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the Society of

Black Engineers and Scientists, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

With regards to the specific Try Teaching event, the availability of CESaME students presents

and opportunity for interested parties to learn firsthand about the experience and what the

program has to offer. It is being held during UU Hour on Thursday, May 17th

, when most all Cal

Poly students have no class.

Threats:

A major challenge that CESaME faces is that even if time and resources are put into reaching

out to more engineering students, these students may simply not be interested in teaching. Cal

Polys College of Engineering is extremely reputable, thus many CENG majors receive well

paying job offers before they graduate. A threat is that it can be difficult to persuade students

to go into teaching if they are anticipating lucrative engineering jobs.


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Goals

Increase the number of likes CESaME has on Facebook Increase the number of attendees at the Try Teaching event on May 17 Make it possible for more students to easily receive information about CESaME and its

related programs Continue to raise awareness about CESaME, especially among CENG majors

Increase donations.

Objectives

Get more than 100 likes on Facebook Get more than 100 people to attend the Try Teaching event on May 17 Increase the number and diversity of students in the credential program. Create flyer targeting freshmen as well as promotional materials for Try Teaching

event. Set up presentations in Santa Lucia/North Mountain and Muir halls. Speak to the Society of Women Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional

Engineers, the Society of Black Engineers and Scientists, and the American Indian

Science and Engineering Society.

Target Audiences

The primary audiences for this campaign are COSAM and CENG students, with a focus on

freshmen and minority groups, in addition to students who have previously expressed interest

in CESaME. It is important for CESaME to build awareness throughout the Cal Poly campus so

the secondary audience consists of Cal Poly faculty and staff, as well as non-COSAM and CENG

majors who the program is also open to.

Strategies

This is a public awareness and outreach campaign, so our strategy is to increase CESaMEs

presence on campus, and reach out to students who express interest through events and

presentations, in order to improve communication between CESaME and its target audience.

We want to make CESaME a name that students are familiar with throughout the Cal Poly

campus.

Tactics (Deliverables)

In order to reach out to more CENG students, we will focus on contacting student organizations

on campus, specifically those devoted to diverse student groups. We will do this by designing

posters and fliers targeted towards freshmen and creating an email blast to send to engineering


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clubs and organizations. We will also make informational presentations during club meetings

to clubs that express an interest in learning more about CESaME after receiving our emails. In

addition, we will advertise incentives, such as iPods and shirts that students can win if they

attend the Try Teaching event and like CESaME on Facebook. To promote the Try Teaching

event, we will make an announcement about it during club presentations, as well as distribute

fliers throughout the residence halls that will encourage students to attend the event and likeCESaME on Facebook. In order to further target students living in the residence halls, we will

work with University Housing to coordinate an informational and possibility interactive event in

the science and engineering dorms.


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Addendums

Timeline:

Week of April 22:

Begin emailing on campus clubs/organizations to set up CESaME informational sessionsduring upcoming club meetings.

Contact University Housing to arrange CESaME programs in the Santa Lucia/NorthMountain and Muir residence halls.

Design fliers for residence hall programs and Try Teaching event. Contact ASI about marquee and Cal Poly Portal announcements for the Try Teachingevent.

Week of April 29:

Print and post flyers throughout campus and residence halls Begin making presentations to clubs and continue contacting clubs/organizations

Week of May 6:

Continue promoting the Try Teaching event and making club presentations.May 17 - Try Teaching event.

May 18 - Announce iPod raffle winner.

Week of May 20:

CESaME programs in residence halls.Key Messages:

CESaME wants to increase the number of people earning STEM credentials, in addition to

encouraging diverse groups of students to consider teaching careers in order to continue to be

a leader in STEM education. CESaME can introduce interested students to the possibility of ateaching career through programs such as the Learn By Doing Lab where they can explore

teaching while earning class credit at the same time. There are also a variety of scholarship

programs available through CESaME and its related programs, such as the Noyce Scholars

Program, where in exchange for earning a teaching credential and committing to teach for a

minimum of two years, students can receive financial aid to help pay off college costs.


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Budget:

There is a budget of up to $2,000 available to us. We estimate printing costs to be around $50

and the two iPod nanos to cost a total of $260.

References:

Our main contact for this campaign is Cal Poly physics professor and CESaME co-director Dr.

John Keller. We also referenced the CESaME website and informational brochures, as well as

the Fall 2011 CCPR documents and survey.

John Keller

[email protected]

(805) 756-2095

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