Tarleton State University’s communication graduate students, along with some faculty, presented case studies at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Educators Academy on Friday, April 7 at Baylor University located in Waco.

The students that presented were Skyla Claxton, Elizabeth Lempeotis and Keauno Perez. They joined Outreach Specialist Brandon Sermon to present “Move over Utilitarianism: Incorporating and Valuing Additional Ethical Frameworks for Social Media and Public Relations.”

PRSA Educators Academy is geared toward advancing public relations through collaboration with industry practitioners and educators to meet and discuss current trends in public relations.

“Sessions at the conference touched on a variety of topics like communication ethics, crisis communication, public relations, education, image repair tactics and social media issues,” Dr. Sarah Maben, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, said. “For the panelists, it was a first time presenting on a panel at a refereed academic conference.

“Each panelist presented a recent ethical situation and dissected how decision makers could have used other ethical philosophies to better inform the choices made.”

Claxton used the Ubunto philosophy to show Apple how to decide to pay artists for their work. Lempeotis used Rotary International’s Four-Way Test on Disney’s recent release of ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Perez used Ethics of Care to show how TLC could have handled the Josh Duggar scandal from the reality show ’19 Kids and Counting.’ Sermon showed what would have saved Home Depot from an insensitive tweet during ESPN’s ‘Game Day’ coverage.

“I was so excited when our team decided to submit a panel for review, and doubly excited when it was accepted,” Maben said.

“I could not have been prouder of their effort and presentations. Well respected researchers who publish articles on communication ethics where in the audience during our session, and gave our students high marks and encouragement to pursue their research topics. The team is a wonderful testimonial to the great work being done at Tarleton and our students are excellent ambassadors for our master’s degree in communication.”