Yesterday was quite a day! The Flex Group (my campaigns team) executed its final presentation yesterday in Dr. Carstarphen's capstone class, PR Campaigns. With Gaylord faculty, staff, and administration including Dean Hockett, Dr. Carstarphen, and Kathy Sawyer, along with guest judges and the client present, the stakes were high, but our team spoke with enthusiasm and intensity to explain the research, planning, execution and evaluation of a comprehensive public relations campaign created for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Cleveland in order to gain support for fundraising efforts such as Bowl for Kids' Sake in the OU community.

I opened the presentation with a quote from Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

The presentation was a HUGE success, and at the conclusion of our presentation, we were able to present Diane Murphree, area director for BBBS of Cleveland County, with $3,600 that will yield three new Big/Little matches for an entire year. It was an enthralling experience and excited me to think about my public speaking opportunities at MCAAP.

When I begin my career with the Department of Defense, I will be able to engage in several opportunities to exercise my public speaking skills such as orating new employee briefings and administering installation tours to distinguished guests. I am so glad that the coursework in the Gaylord College, namely in Dr. Carstarphen's PR Campaigns class, has greatly prepared me and will directly correlate to my professional career.

I am taking Race, Gender, & the Media this semester with Dr. Meta Carstarphen. We discuss a lot about race, gender, and stereotypes in the media and society today. I grow increasingly amazed as I keep discovering how my coursework directly correlates with society as a whole, but more importantly, my career path with the government. I recently met the Equal Employment Office director, Coluah Watts Stanfield, and she gave me some background information on the office and its function at MCAAP.

At each Department of Defense (DoD) installation across the U.S. there is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office/ directorate. Equal employment is an initiative that is alive and active in all DoD operations, especially in the civilian workforce. The EEO office at MCAAP has a staff of three. Coluah and two other equal employment specialists work everyday to educate the civilian workforce at MCAAP on management directives supporting the prevention of discrimination of personnel by race, sex, sexual orientation,

religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, political affiliation, parental status, and genetic predisposition.

It is also the job of the equal employment opportunity staff to uphold the legislative measures established to uphold these high standards such as the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act (NO FEAR) of 2002, Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH), and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Age, race, and gender are parameters of discrimination that unfortunately know now limits. That is why the DoD has established the EEO to manage and maintain a discrimination-free work environment for all Department of Army civilians working at MCAAP and other installations across the U.S.

As previously documented in this blog, I had the opportunity of meeting and conversing with one of MCAAP's finest: Public Affairs Specialist Mark Hughes. As an acquaintance, Mr. Hughes discussed with me briefly in our first meeting what he does on a daily basis as well as some of the noteworthy Army initiatives he has had the privilege of working toward. I recently met with Mr. Hughes again, and our conversation was much deeper and he told me a great deal about his history, education, and training all leading up to where he is now in his career as Public Affairs Specialist for MCAAP. I enjoyed our recent meeting so much I wanted to document our dialogue in my blog.

Education has played a vital role in Hughes professional endeavors. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Education with a specialization in journalism in 1976 from Northeastern State University located in Tahlequah, Okla. Hughes continued his education at the U.S. Marine Corps Command & Staff College in Quantico, Va. He also took courses and earned certifications in public affairs from the University of Oklahoma. Hughes then attended the Senior Public Affairs Officers School and the Defense Information School while stationed at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Ind.

Hughes has been in the PR field as an Army Public Affairs Officer for 34 years. His media experience goes back to his Marine Corps Career from 1976 to 1996. Retiring from the Marines as a lieutenant colonel in 1996, Hughes has dealt with national and international media in these crises and exercises: Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Panama, Honduras, Okinawa, Germany, Somalia.

Since his time at MCAAP, Hughes has been in constant correspondence with national and international media. From February 2002 until March 2003, MCAAP was the recipient of news media around the world such as “Nightline” (ABC-TV), The Associated Press, and the BBC once the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan and Iraq. As the sole public affairs specialist on the installation, Hughes coordinated each media visit and escorted media throughout the plant.

When asked how he perceives the value of public relations in his organization, Hughes had an interesting and thought-provoking response. Hughes says he thinks the value of PR in any organization is vital to the organization’s success.

“The real question, however, is what does the leadership think about the value of public relations in its organization? A PR practitioner can only be as valuable as the leadership will let him or her be. To that end, public relations practitioners have to be able to define value," Hughes said, "which is why it is essential for them to be able to measure the worthiness of what they do and their ability to contribute to the bottom line.”

Hughes says after years of experience in the field, he “gets it” when it comes to the function and value of public relations in the U.S. Army.

In his professional career, Hughes has had many articles published in various government publications. In 1992, Hughes wrote “Words at War: Reflections of a Marine Corps Public Affairs Officer,” which was published in the official U.S. Army magazine, Soldiers. Hughes encourages any PR majors to consider a career with the federal government in Public Affairs.