University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media

Diversity Proposal

February 18, 2019

Molly Strickland
(479) 685–9019
msstrick@uark.edu

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University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media

Executive Summary

The following document contains information to be discussed with Larry Foley, the University of

Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media department chairman. The School of Journalism and

Strategic Media at the University of Arkansas is wanting to implement an outreach campaign aimed at

recruiting Hispanic students from Benton County, Arkansas.

Benton County is one of the largest counties in Arkansas, home to businesses such as Walmart

Corporate, Sams Club Corporate, Walmart AMP and several other vendors because of the Walmart

legacy.

Benton County consists of 22 cities with approximately 221,339 people in 847.36 square miles.

The majority of the county is white (88.9 percent) with the Hispanic community being the next largest

ethnic group (16.7 percent). There are around 31.7 percent of the county population who have earned a

bachelor’s degree or higher.

The outreach campaign conducted by Molly Strickland, with help from other students, will be

targeting Hispanic students in Benton County. The will be one objective which is to gain brand awareness

of the School of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Arkansas. The goal moving forward

is achieved by conducting face-to-face interaction with these students by going into the high schools in

the area. Molly and the other students will be going to different schools and attending Hispanic-oriented

clubs and conducting speeches about what the School of Journalism and Strategic Media means to them.

Each student will be given the option to take a fun-interactive quiz and be given the opportunity to see the

University of Arkansas for themselves with a private campus tour. We will measure success by Google

survey and interaction rates with the quiz.

If there are any questions or concerns with the campus outreach program, individuals can get in

touch with Molly Strickland via email (msstrick@uark.edu) or by phone ((479)685-9019).

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University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media
Situation Analysis

Benton County (comprised of 22 cities) has a population of 221,339 according to the April 2010 census.

The number of people migrating to Benton County seems to be steadily increasing. Of the 221,339

citizens living in Benton County, approximately 88.9 percent of them are white. The Hispanic population

in Benton county makes up about 16.7 percent of the 2010 census.

The Hispanic population in Benton County is rising, and the school of Journalism and Strategic Media

wants to recruit those students to the University of Arkansas.

According to the fall 2018 summary, there were 27,194 students who attended the University of Arkansas

(undergraduate, graduate, and law). Out of these 27,194 students, approximately 7.6 percent of these

students are Hispanic. With the growing economy and the business growth in Benton County, we see a

growth of the Hispanic population. The perceived weakness of the Hispanic population in Benton County

is the economic means to put themselves through school. The opportunity the School of Journalism and

Strategic Media sees is a potential to encourage diverse learning and the chance to show prospective

students that the money is worth the degree.

Our outreach campaign would consist of several elements. We would start in the schools in Benton

County and creating awareness within the walls. We would invite these individuals to a personal private

tour of the University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media. Another step we could take

is offering a specialized scholarship for Hispanic students. We would want to implement posters in

schools and in the suburbs.

With our skills because of the school of journalism and strategic media, we would have the resources

needed to fulfill the task and challenges with creating an outreach program anchored towards Hispanic

students.

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University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media

Objective & Tactics

One objective that we have is creating brand awareness. Brand awareness can be achieved by introducing

the students to the university by offering an official campus tour. We can measure the success of the

objective by creating a survey after the tour and having students fill it out. This will give us results that

can help lead us in directions on how to target our audience better. Another way to create brand

awareness is by going to local schools and go to the Hispanic club organizations and talking to them

about the importance of a higher education. There is a HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America)

club at Rogers High School and it is a primarily Hispanic organization. We can measure the success by

creating a poll that allows students to take a fun interactive quiz, similar to BuzzFeed quizzes, about

which field of journalism they should enter.

Target Audience

Our target audience is Hispanic high school students in Benton. Benton County has approximately 36,964

Hispanic individuals living within its borders.

Timetable

The outreach program plans to launch in March 1, 2019. Students from the school of journalism and

strategic media will be paid to go into these schools throughout the month of March to create awareness

among club members and the Hispanic population. Tours are scheduled to be conducted on April 4 and

April 19.

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University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media
Evaluation

After the campus tour, each student will be given a survey link and will complete on a lab computer on

the first floor of Kimpel Hall. The results will be posted on Google survey. The quiz will be closed down

on May 1 and we can see how many students viewed the quiz and how many actual engaged in the

content. The Google survey will help tell us see how successful our strategies were through the duration

of the campus outreach program.

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