KINGSTON, R.I.- October 31, 2018- Public relations students at the University of Rhode Island are tackling a problem with which some students are all too familiar–hunger.

On Friday, Nov. 2 at 11 a.m., students in a URI public relations class will be in the Memorial Union to practice some public relations basics. While emphasizing the importance of eating healthy by handing out fruit and other snacks, students will also be passing out reminders to others passing through to take a food security survey and get better informed.

The outreach is part of a semester-long project by students in Instructor Regina Bell’s class, which focuses on principles and procedures in public relations with an emphasis on the role of the practitioner as a specialist in communication. This semester, Bell’s students are tackling the issue of food insecurity on college campuses and are looking closely at URI.

A proponent of experiential learning, Bell argues that public relations is the perfect backdrop for students to participate in a hands-on, real-world situation to help an organization, in this case the University, solve a problem.

“After our first visit to the Rhody Outpost (the campus food pantry), the students started to realize that food consumption is directly related to the amount of money someone does or doesn’t have,” explained Bell, who also serves as the head of the public relations department. “When students get paid at the beginning of the month, they can buy food. As the month goes on and money becomes more scarce, so does their ability to buy food.”

The students in the class have been charged with helping Kathleen Gorman, director of the URI Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America, to promote the University-wide food security survey to help understand the breadth of the issue. With the help of the Division of Student Affairs, Gorman offered Bell’s students the experiential learning opportunity of promoting the survey to the campus community.

“I am delighted that Regina has chosen to use the URI Food Security Assessment as a vehicle for her students to gain meaningful experience in public relations and communication by assisting to disseminate information about the survey and promote participation in the survey across the university,” Gorman said.

“This will be a real-time test of their skills and effectiveness as we will actually be able to know how effective their messaging was since we’ll have the data on how many participants took the survey. At the same time, the students in the class are learning about the problems of food insecurity and healthy eating as well as learning about potential solutions to the problem of food insecurity more globally.”

“Since I am a commuter and don’t have a meal plan, this project will be a great learning opportunity,” said junior public relations major Brendan Nolty. “Many students, including myself, can benefit from the research and learn how to cook easy, healthy meals at a low cost instead of draining our wallets ordering take-out.”

“It is my hope that students will become more aware of issues plaguing our society since being culturally aware is a major requirement for public relations practitioners,” said Bell. “I hope their eyes will be open to a societal issue and that they can utilize the skills and concepts they talk about in class and apply them as they contribute to a solution for this issue.”

Olivia Ross, an intern in the Marketing and Communications Department at URI and public relations major, wrote this press release.