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Communication & Public Relations
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Building, sustaining, and growing a Bonner Program and campus center also benefits greatly from –– or perhaps even relies on ––effective communication and public relations (PR). Strong campus visibility and positive recognition for the Bonner Program and for community service and engagement in general help programs to gain and retain the staffing, financial support, infrastructure, and other resources that are needed. Indeed, these dimensions are even built with the Bonner Self-Assessment Tool, tied to the Annual Report.
There are a few indicators in particular that express the goals and needs for Communications and PR:
Awards and Recognition: The institution clearly recognized the contributions and achievements of students and community members involved in service and civic engagement, for example through awards and other recognition initiatives.
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Level 1
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Level 2
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Level 3
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Level 4
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Level 5
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Recognition of students and community members’ civic work is very weak or non-existent.
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Recognition of students and community members’ civic work is inconsistent or lacking; there is no awards program.
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Recognition of students and community members’ civic work occurs but could be more visible or consistent.
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Recognition of students’ civic work is visible and present, including a formal awards program.
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Recognition of students’ and community members’ civic work is strongly visible and consistent, including a formal awards program and other public documentation.
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Public Relations and Visibility: The college/university has a strong public relations presence in which community service and civic engagement is visible. For example, the service and civic engagement center and Bonner Program can be easily found on the website. These efforts receive coverage in major campus publications.
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Level 1
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Level 2
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Level 3
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Level 4
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Level 5
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Public relations efforts are poor, and service and civic engagement receives little positive coverage. Websites do not exist or links are hard to find, and visibility is often negative.
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Public relations efforts are minimal, and service and civic engagement receives little coverage. The website links and coverage are difficult to find.
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Public relations efforts are moderate, and service and civic engagement receives sporadic coverage. The website links and coverage are not highly visible.
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There are elements of strong public relations, and service and civic engagement is visible and positively covered in documentation and online.
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There are highly effective mechanisms for public relations, and service and civic engagement is highly visible and regarded in documentation, online, and practices.
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Institutional Recognition: community service and civic engagement are central and defining features of the institution’s approach to providing a developmental and educational experience for students and for fulfilling its broader mission.
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Level 1
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Level 2
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Level 3
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Level 4
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Level 5
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There is virtually no institutional recognition for the place of service (or civic engagement) in the educational mission.
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There is rhetorical or minimal reference to service and civic engagement.
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Service is understood as part of active citizenship but is left for interested students to identify, mostly in a co-curricular fashion.
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Service is an element of the institution’s academic mission and agenda; many options for co-curricular and curricular involvement exist.
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Service is a central and defining characteristic of the institution’s approach to education and student development; most students find co-curricular and curricular ways to be involved.
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