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Umd Grunig Gala Discusses Public Relations Failure In Ebola Crisis

October 21, 2015 College of Arts and Humanities | Communication

Umd Grunig Gala Discusses Public Relations Failure In Ebola Crisis

The Diamondback's coverage of the eight annual Grunig Gala.

Written by Kimberly Escobar, The Diamondback

Photo Courtesy of Stephanie Natoli

Communication students packed Stamp Student Union’s Colony Ballroom on Tuesday night to learn about their field — specifically, the public-relations disaster surrounding the Ebola crisis of the past year.

As part of the University of Maryland communication department’s eighth annual Grunig Gala, keynote speaker Kathy Lewton, a health care public relations and marketing executive, shared her expert view on the public-relations response to the deadly outbreak.

“The communication students here at the University of Maryland and in other colleges around the United States are going to be the public-relations team of such things in the future,” Lewton said. “I wanted to share with them what a disaster the Ebola crisis was, and how public relations could have prevented such a negative reaction to the entire thing.”

Six students on the Grunig organizing team put together the event to allow communication students to talk to professionals in their field and hear stories they can relate to.

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