Outside the classroom, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading and needlework including quilting, needlepointing and knitting.
About the Curator
Debbie Davis, Ed.D., ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA is an associate professor of practice in the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University. She is also the faculty adviser for the student-run agency, RaiderComm.
To the classroom, she brings extensive experience in corporate communications for multiple Fortune 500 companies. Dr. Davis has spent more than a decade in higher education, teaching a wide range of mass communication, journalism and public relations courses and conducting pedagogical research. She earned her B.A. in journalism from Franklin College and her M.A. and Ed.D. from Ball State University. Dr. Davis is accredited by both the International Association of Business Communicators and the Public Relations Society of America. In 2016, she was inducted into the prestigious College of Fellows, an honorary organization within PRSA.
What We Do
As is the case with communications agencies in the real world, student-run agencies typically offer a variety of support to clients, including public relations, marketing, promotions, and social media support. The main appeal of a student-run advertising agency for clients is that the agency can provide professional-quality work at no cost or very small cost. The primary appeal for students is that they gain real-world experience unlike anything that can result from a traditional classroom experience. Students working in this environment have to mentor each other. Students learn to engage in “reverse mentoring” whereby they typically have more experience and knowledge of communication than their clients – so they must educate the clients.In all agency environments, development of time management and teamwork skills is essential. Students must collaborate to produce work that satisfies the client and the agency supervisor (typically a faculty member). The work must be academically appropriate and professionally relevant. This balance of responsibilities and oversight makes the student-run agency an ideal learning experience and preparation for the professional workplace.