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First Clemson PRSSA meeting: Live Coverage

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The meeting starts at 7 pm EST. You can follow live, post comments, and ask questions.

FIRST Clemson PRSSA meeting!

Mark your calendar for the FIRST EVER Clemson PRSSA meeting:

WHAT: Panel discussion about jobs in public relations & PR practice

WHEN: September 25, 2008, 7 pm

WHERE: DANL 313

Attire: Business casual

Meet the panelists:

• Kim Banks, President, Simko Communications
• Robin Blackwood, Director of Client Services at Jeff Dezen Public Relations
• Carly Culbertson, public relations veteran, with diverse experience from non-profit to the corporate
  world
• Dusty Deming, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, YMCA Greenville
• John Gouch, Assistant Director of News Services, Office of Public Affairs, Clemson University

You will also meet the chapter’s professional adviser, Liza Jones of Payne-Jones PR, and academic adviser, Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu.

Please click here to RSVP.

Panelist Bios:

Kim Banks is the president of Simko Communications (www.simkocomm.com). With 10 years of experience in the public relations industry, mostly with various advertising agencies throughout the Carolinas, Kim Banks works with a variety of clients that span many different industries.  After leaving Erwin-Penland Advertising in Greenville, S.C. in the summer of 2007 as public relations supervisor, she opened her own firm, Simko Communications, a full-service public relations firm that specializes in strategic planning and messaging, media relations, community relations, crisis management and event planning.  Banks graduated from UNC Charlotte with a bachelor’s degree in Communications and a minor in Journalism and is also co-author of the Palmetto PR Divas blog.

Robin Blackwood is Director of Client Services at Jeff Dezen Public Relations (JDPR) in Greenville, SC. JDPR is a communications consulting agency specializing in public relations strategies. The firm provides public relations strategic planning, creative idea-generation, and program development and implementation for regional and national accounts such as Verizon Wireless, Bridgestone Golf and Fatz Cafe. Robin has been with JDPR since 1997 and in addition to overseeing the firm’s clients and employees, she manages JDPR’s internship program. If Clemson any students are interested in an internship at JDPR, please contact Robin Blackwood.

Carly Brooks Culbertson has over 20 years of diverse experience in the not-for-profit, agency and corporate arenas. Having developed and implemented award-winning campaigns for well-known brands, Culbertson is a seasoned marketing communications professional.

Culbertson joined Verizon Wireless as the Carolinas/Tennessee Region Public Relations Manager in August 2003 and immersed herself in media and community relations for the company. She lead the region’s communications charge for Verizon Wireless’ philanthropic arm, the Verizon Foundation, one of the largest corporate foundations in the world, as well as efforts for the organizations HopeLine initiative, which puts wireless services and equipment to work to assist victims of domestic violence.  She has recently resigned from the company to pursue other interests.

A true leader in the Carolinas community, Culbertson devotes much of her free time to domestic violence prevention and education. She serves on the media advisory board for both the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and North Carolinas Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She is a former board member for Safe Harbor of Greenville, South Carolina, which provides a safe haven for women and children of domestic violence. In addition, Culbertson volunteers her time with the Girl Scouts and A Child’s Haven.
Dusty Deming has been engaged in marketing communications, including PR, since 1983. For 21 years she worked in the financial services field. However, after determining that she was, at bottom, a values-oriented person, she sought out a non-profit position and for the past two and a half years, she has worked for the YMCA of Greenville. Her education was in art and prior to 1983 worked as a graphic designer. Dusty has been a member of PRSA since 1986, and accredited since 1989. As a Public Relations counsel, it is her belief that understanding the organization and the communications process is primary. And, that Public
Relations therefore should be at the forefront of any endeavor. [updated September 15]

John Gouch is assistant director of News Services and online newsroom manager in the Office of Public Affairs at Clemson University. In that role he supervises the public information directors responsible for media relations and campus-wide internal communication for the university. He also manages the Newsroom section of the Clemson.edu Web site, where university news releases are presented. He joined News Services in April 2007 after 25 years at the Anderson Independent-Mail, where he was a reporter, City Editor and Managing Editor. He also was Director of Online Services in charge of the newspaper’s growing Internet business. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 1978 with a degree in journalism. Before joining the Clemson staff he was a member of the South Carolina chapter of the Public Relations Society of America for two years.