the Life The Idea The Value The Structure The School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon and WE Communications sought to find mutually beneficial ways to build a strong connection between the two organizations. WE Communications extended the invitation for PR faculty to embed themselves for a day in the Agency’s Portland, Oregon office. For the SOJC: • Create strong relationships to help students with post-grad job placement. • Understand the structure and culture of WE Communications. • Identify specific skill sets that students interested in agency work need to be successful. • Refresh personal knowledge and experience in a large agency. For WE Communications: • Build strong relationships with SOJC faculty to identify good job candidates at all levels. • Share the WE Communications culture. • Facilitate knowledge sharing of key skills and traits needed for a successful career. Two PR faculty members spent the day at WE Communications. The overall structure: • Met with key leadership in the agency. • Learned about agency account team structure and integration with specialized support teams including: writing/editing, data and analytics, design. • Spent time with account leaders to learn about key success stories and case studies. • Shadowed an account team during its regular team meeting. Kelli Matthews, University of Oregon [email protected]