Steve Jordan, president of Eastern Washington University, will discuss the return on investment of community relations as the speaker for the Feb. 6 meeting of the Spokane Public Relations Council and Spokane Chapter of Public Relations Society of America.

Jordan, who has spearheaded a number of successful initiatives to strengthen EWU’s connections to Cheney and to Spokane, will address the elements that drive community relations, how to achieve community buy-in and strategies for building successful partnerships.

Since his appointment as president at EWU in 1998, Jordan has focused on putting students first. His efforts include investing in campus and academic improvements, working with developers to expand economic activity in Cheney, building partnerships with other higher education institutions and businesses in the region and rallying community support behind the Eagles’ resurgent athletics program. As a recent newspaper article expressed, "Regionally, he’s been hailed as a visionary, a leader who can set a goal and inspire others to move forward in the same direction."

Jordan holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration-Policy Analysis and a Master of Public Administration in financial administration from the University of Colorado. His Bachelor of Arts degree is in political science from the University of Northern Colorado. Before coming to Eastern, Jordan was chief executive officer for the Kansas Board of Regents and State Higher Education Executive Officer for the State of Kansas.

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Community Relations is Good Business

I look forward to hearing Eastern Washington University President Steve Jordan’s presentation, at our Feb. 6 meeting, on the return on investment of community relations. Not only is Jordan an excellent speaker, he knows of what he speaks when it comes to community relations. Few presidents in EWU’s history have done more for the campus community, the Cheney community and the Spokane regional community than Steve Jordan. And my guess is that he’d be the first to say that EWU’s positive trajectory in recent years is significantly related to its investment in the community beyond the campus boundaries.

Luckily, Jordan’s commitment to community relations is shared by the rest of the region’s higher-education presidents and by a good number of other organizations in the area. I attended the Spokane Area Economic Development Corporation’s higher education rally last week and heard remarks by all five local college and university presidents. I was struck by three things. First, our higher-education institutions are, and must continue to be, heavily involved in economic development in the region. Second, the current crop of local college and university presidents genuinely like one another and are inclined toward cooperation rather than competition. That hasn’t always been the case, but, to quote Martha Stewart, it’s a good thing.

Lastly, our higher education institutions are investing in the community in ways that grow naturally from their distinct missions. So, while EWU builds programs in forensic science and information technology to support the new state crime lab and digital state archive on its campus and WSU Spokane leads development of the university district downtown, the Community Colleges of Spokane are designing new programs to re-train unemployed and displaced workers in the region, Gonzaga is expanding its efforts to support entrepreneurship and business ethics and Whitworth is launching several initiatives to support the region’s poor and homeless.

I mention all of these things not only to shamelessly exploit this SPRC platform to plug my primary employer but to call on all of us to continue encouraging our organizations to invest their human and financial resources in the community. And I know that higher education by no means has cornered the market on community relations. It’s up to us to remind the bean counters that investing in the community not only contributes to making Spokane a better place to live and work; chances are it’ll contribute to the bottom line as well.

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Katie Delahaye Paine, founder of KDPaine & Partners LLC and publisher of the Measurement Standard, the first newsletter for marketing and public relations professionals dedicated entirely to measurement and accountability, has been successfully making the case for PR evaluation for 17 years to some of the largest and most successful businesses in the country.

Paine will share her expertise, data and tools on PR evaluation in the 2004 SPRC workshop, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at the Gonzaga University Law School. The workshop is free to SPRC members and only $25 for non-members.

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The Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce has a list compiled over the course of the past few years, and would welcome your help in adding to it and identifying links to related online information. You can see the list online at http://www.spokane.wsu.edu/aboutWSUSpokane/visitors.asp.

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February 6, 2004 - SPRC Meeting 7:30-9:00 at the old location (new building), Cataldo Hall. Parking is available in the Knights of Columbus lot.

February 6, 2004 - PR Measurement Workshop with Katie Delahaye Paine 9:30-11:30 Gonzaga University Law School.  Free to SPRC members and $25 for non-members.

February 13, 2004 - Internship Host Organization Applications and Student Applications due to Robyn Dunlap.

April 2, 2004 - Submission deadline for SPARC Award entries, details to follow.

May 27, 2004 - SPARC Awards Gala at the MAC.

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Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.

Kin Hubbard

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