Amy Newman is a Senior Lecturer of Management Communication at the School of Hotel Administration, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. She teaches courses in business writing, persuasive communication, organizational behavior, and corporate communication. Professor Newman is the author of “Business Communication: In Person, In Print, Online” (Cengage, 10e) and “Building Leadership Character” (Sage, 2018). Prior to joining Cornell, she was an adjunct instructor at Ithaca College, eCornell, and Milano, The New School for Management and Urban Policy in New York City. Professor Newman spent most of her career in corporate positions and external consulting roles. Internally, she held management positions in human resources and leadership development. As an external consultant, she worked to improve employee performance and communication in hospitality, technology, education, publishing, financial services, and entertainment companies. Professor Newman has won grants to develop technology-based learning solutions as well as awards for teaching excellence and student advising. She is a director-at-large of the Association for Business Communication.
Overview and Courses
How your organization represents itself to the outside world can make or break your brand, creating a unique demand for skilled public relations professionals with the ability to develop strategic communications.
Whether you are preparing a speech, speaking to the media, or navigating a crisis, this certificate program will prepare you to deliver effective messages both internally and externally. Through the coursework, you will study a rigorous eight-step process for building a communications plan that you can measure and evaluate against critical business objectives. You’ll also have the opportunity to discover best practices to use when collaborating with PR agencies to maximize communications impact. By the end of the program, you will have mastered the ability to create and implement an effective PR strategy that aligns your efforts with the goals of your organization.
This program includes a year of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the marketing industry’s most pressing topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events.
Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.
For the best experience in this program it is recommended to take these courses in the order that they appear.
Course list
All enterprises are governed by numbers; most managers and clients use data every day. Public relations propels those numbers, making PR a business necessity rather than a nice-to-have enhancement. Communications professionals must therefore frame discussions around PR using business metrics developed through evidence-based plans, measurable evaluations, and calculated ROI. Students in this course will examine how "strategic PR" is all about crafting a precise plan to use public relations to achieve organizational goals.
In this course, you will learn that to be successful, you need to map out where your organization is headed in terms of business goals, how PR is going to help you get there, and who your audience is for your PR efforts. You will follow a recommended eight-step plan for building a communications strategy consisting of clearly articulated steps for creating an evidence-based approach to public relations that can help impact your organization's bottom line. By the end of this course, you will be able to devise, measure, and evaluate your PR strategy.
You always need public relations for one critical reason: PR drives sales. But do you have to hire an external PR agency? Can you afford it? How do you choose one? How do you compare requests for proposals from different agencies? And once you've hired an agency, how can you get the greatest value for your spend?
This course is designed to give people who are current or potential clients of external PR firms the skills they need to optimize their PR efforts. In this course, you will identify best practices for determining whether to use external resources, for vetting potential agencies, and for hiring and managing those agencies. As the client, you will always have a finite marketing budget, but you can use best practices to yield the greatest value from the portion of it that you're spending with an agency. You will discover a simple calculation to determine whether you can afford a PR firm now; and if you can't afford one now, you will identify concrete steps you can take towards that goal. Through this course, you will determine how to best leverage a PR agency.
A crisis can have a tremendous impact on the people involved and on an organization's performance and reputation, so it's important to communicate effectively in order to minimize negative consequences. Preparing for a crisis through the creation and ongoing analysis of a crisis communication plan can help minimize negative reactions and fallout. In this course, you will define crisis, paracrisis, and the goals of crisis communication. You will share your own experiences and practice identifying potential crises, creating a crisis communication plan, choosing a crisis communication team, and evaluating the plan.
A key component of preparing for a crisis is crafting messages for internal and external stakeholders. Messages must be quick, consistent, and open, and preparing initial statements ahead of time will help leaders and spokespersons communicate effectively during a crisis. You will examine the content of effective initial statements with the opportunity to review real-life examples, evaluating them for quality and success. You will practice addressing difficult questions and criticisms, exploring acceptable and graceful responses.
Once the crisis is over, it's important to review what worked well, what didn't, and to update the crisis communication plan for next time. Reflecting on a real life example, you will evaluate the response to the crisis and the crisis communication plan itself.
Symposium sessions feature two days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today’s most pressing topics. The Marketing Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.
Join us for the next Symposium, in which we’ll share experiences from across the industry, inspiring real-time conversations about best practices, innovation, and the future of marketing work. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to some of the most pressing topics and trends in the marketing field. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from across the industry.
Upcoming Symposium: November 12 – 13, 2024 11AM – 1PM ET
- Tuesday, November 12, 2024 11AM – 1PM ET
- Explore Growth Marketing Essentials
- Wednesday, November 13, 2024 11AM – 1PM ET
- Developing and Using Consumer Insights
All sessions are held on Zoom.
Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request.
Symposium sessions feature three days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today’s most pressing topics. The Leadership Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.
Join us for the next Symposium in which we’ll discuss the ways that leaders across industries have continued engaging their teams over the past two years while pivoting in strategic ways. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to relevant topics for leaders. Throughout this Symposium, you will examine different areas of leadership, including innovation, strategy, and engagement. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from various industries.
Upcoming Symposium: October 15-17, 2024 from 11am – 1pm ET
- Tuesday, October 15, 2024 11am – 1pm ET
- Navigating Change and Conflict
- Wednesday, October 16, 2024 11am – 1pm ET
- Anticipating Opposition and Uncertainty
- Thursday, October 17, 2024 11am – 1pm ET
- Exploring the Value of Feedback
All sessions are held on Zoom.
Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request.
How It Works
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Faculty Authors
Dr. Theomary Karamanis is a multiple-award-winning communication professor and consultant with 25 years of global experience. She is a full-time Senior Lecturer of Management Communication at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and regularly delivers executive education programs in leadership communication, crisis communication, and strategic communication. Dr. Karamanis has held several professional leadership positions, including Chair of the Global Communication Certification Council, Chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Academy, and Chair of the IABC Awards Committee.
Dr. Karamanis’s academic background includes a Ph.D. in Communication Studies, a Master of Arts in Mass Communication, and a post-graduate certificate in telecommunications, all from Northwestern University, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. She also holds professional certifications as a Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP), online facilitator, and executive program instructor.
Dr. Karamanis has been actively engaged in various industries (private, nonprofit, and government) and fields of expertise, including corporate communication, media and PR, higher education administration and teaching, and consulting. She has lived and worked in Canada, Greece, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America.
Dr. Karamanis is the recipient of 40 professional communication awards, including 12 Platinum MarCom awards, seven Gold Quill awards, four Silver Quill awards, and a Comm Prix award. In 2020, she received the Award for Excellence in Communication Consulting by the Association of Professional Communication Consultants and the Association for Business Communication. Dr. Karamanis is the author of several books and academic papers on communication and regularly delivers presentations at international conferences and other business forums.
Key Course Takeaways
- Engage the media with confidence, comfort, and control while promoting your story
- Create an evidence-based PR strategy that supports your organization’s goals
- Manage PR agency relationships to maximize benefits for your organization
- Create a communication plan to support organizational change
- Communicate during a crisis to maintain or rebuild your organization’s reputation
JOIN A LEADERSHIP SYMPOSIUM!
Download a Brochure
Not ready to enroll but want to learn more? Download the certificate brochure to review program details.What You'll Earn
- PR Strategy Certificate from Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
- 50 Professional Development Hours (5.0 CEUs)
- 20 Professional Development Credits (PDCs) toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification
- 20 Credit hours towards HRCI recertification
Watch the Video
Who Should Enroll
- Communications professionals
- Current or aspiring public relations professionals
- Managers
- Executives
- Entrepreneurs
“I was really able to harness that technology and have a classroom right at my kitchen table with eCornell.”
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PR Strategy
Select Payment Method | Cost |
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$3,750 | |