One group of UTC students in the Publication Design II and the Public Relations Campaign courses led by Assistant Professor Anthony Cepak and Lecturer David Norman visited La Paz in September. Photo by Angela Foster.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Communication is partnering with 10 local nonprofits to help students gain real work experience outside the classroom.
Lecturer David Norman and Assistant Professor Anthony Cepak are the two UTC faculty members leading the course, which is a combination of Public Relations Campaigns and Publication Design II classes. The 40 students in the course are divided into 10 groups of four and are assigned a nonprofit to work with throughout the semester.
While this course was initially introduced during the spring 2024 semester, students are already seeing the fruits of their labor. One student, Maddi Myers-Osband, landed a job with a nonprofit after graduation, and one group was nominated for a Public Media Award presented by the National Educational Telecommunications Association.
“This is their opportunity to be creative and do whatever they want to help the client,” Norman said, “and obviously, from the other perspective, this is great for not-for-profits because pretty much all the not-for-profits we have dealt with are understaffed, underfunded. They love the opportunity to have good UTC students helping them out for a period of time.”
This isn’t a normal internship where students learn on the job, he said. Instead, they are actively putting together plans and campaigns to help the organization and then implementing them.
“They’re meeting with the clients. They’re talking to them about how they could help during the next three months of the semester. They’re actually putting together a public relations plan for them, which they will then present to the clients in the next week or two,” Norman said. “Then, at that point, they’ll actually implement the plan based on what they figured out with the client. This allows students to get real-life, hands-on experience working for a client.”
Norman and Cepak—who called the course an opportunity for students to get agency experience—are both familiar with the work that these students will be doing on a day-to-day basis for clients. Norman previously ran his own public relations firm in New York, and Cepak was a creative director and ran a creative team.
They both know the value of experience and its importance in putting together a portfolio.
“Seeing that on their resume and then seeing what they actually produce would tell me that their knowledge is not theoretical or hypothetical,” Norman said. “They are capable of doing what it is I need them to do and I can very quickly just put them to doing that work.”
Early this semester, the Publication Design II and Public Relations Campaign courses entertained visitors from Happinest Wildlife Rehabilitation & Rescue, which rehabilitates raptors and other animals.
Myers-Osband was the account supervisor for her team last spring and—after earning a bachelor’s degree in communication in May—began working full-time for Lookout Mountain Conservancy, a nonprofit organization. During her time at UTC, she also minored in sociology and environmental studies.
“This class was probably one of the most mindset-changing classes for me and the entire setup,” Myers-Osband said. “It’s such a great opportunity, and you truly are the one who can take that opportunity even further.
“It’s one thing to do the class and go through it and be a part of it, and you’re going to learn something either way, but the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.”
During her Lookout Mountain Conservancy internship days, Myers-Osband and her group completely redesigned the website and logo for ChaTech, a local nonprofit. She credits the class for her transition to the business world.
“It definitely eased the transition because it feels … I’ve already walked the steps, and I’ve kind of had someone helping me through that, and now I’m able to go out and have a lot more confidence in what I’m doing, especially since I’m not even a year out of college,” Myers-Osband said. “Having that experience has definitely allowed me to have that confidence moving forward, especially when I’m meeting people who have been in the industry for a really long time.”
This semester’s nonprofits include Happinest Wildlife Rehabilitation & Rescue, which rehabilitates raptors and other animals. To illustrate the organization’s work, Happinest brought a hawk to campus in August for Norman and Cepak’s class.
Gracee Morrow is a current student in the course and the account supervisor for her team.
“Since we’re working with nonprofit organizations, these people don’t have all the help in the world, and implementing what we’ve been learning all of college is awesome,” Morrow said. “To see it actually produced is probably the most rewarding. We are there for them, their right hand at all times, and they don’t get this all the time. This is something that’s special.”
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UTC Department of Communication
Dr. Anthony Cepak, left, and David Norman
