Date: 05/16/2005

A group of 13 Russian public relations professionals visited the School of Journalism and Mass Communications last week for a two-hour briefing on the public relations industry in the United States, reports Dennis Wilcox, director of the school. On their first stop on a two-week Bay Area tour hosted by the San Francisco-based Center for Citizen Initiatives, the group heard an overview by Wilcox and Professor William Briggs on today's public relations practice.

Also attending the briefing were JMC's four Muskie Fellows from three nations -- Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. "We had to have everything translated into Russian," says Wilcox, "so it was helpful to have our graduate students who are fluent in Russian there to assist and answer questions." Two of Wilcox's public relations texts, which have been translated into Russian, were on display for the briefing. Contact Wilcox at dwilcox@casa.sjsu.edu.