"From State Technical Institute at Knoxville to Pellissippi State Techn" by Robert David Grimes
 

Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-1989

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Communication

Major Professor

June Adamson

Committee Members

Jerry Morrow, Malcolm McInnis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to chronicle the history of State Technical Institute at Knoxville from the technical institute's opening in 1974 until its conversion to a technical community college on July 1, 1988. The history was based on interviews with the institute's first director, the institute's first president, an interim president, and the college's president at the time of this writing. Newspaper coverage of State Tech in the Knoxville News-Sentinel supplemented interviews with the technical institute's past and present chief executive officers. An analysis of the history followed and examined public relations problems encountered by the institute during the period leading to its conversion to community college status. The research identified two major public relations problems. The first was an incorrect association with the State Area Vocational-Technical School, a situation that can be traced to the shared campus of the two institutions at Division Street in Knoxville and the initial intent of creating a technical department for the area school. Interviews with the chief executive officers indicated that this particular public relations problem involving the State Area Vocational-Technical School was never fully solved. The other major public relations problem that followed the technical institute until its move to a new campus in October of 1986 was the lack of adequate facilities. The announced expansion to Lakeshore Mental Health Institute in the fall of 1979 added needed classroom, laboratory and parking space for State Tech, but the move also added another public relations challenge in that students and mental patients shared the facility. Interviews with the chief executive officers revealed that many of the public relations issues perceived by each to be important during his administration were evident in coverage by the News-Sentinel. Each identified the need for adequate facilities as a public relations issue, and each struggled with public perceptions on the role of a technical institute. Use of the four-step public relations process--fact-finding, planning and programming, action and communication, and evaluation--to manage these and other public relations issues was not evident at all times during the technical institute's history. Progress toward an organized public relations plan was noted as the technical institute expanded and grew in student enrollment. Recommendations made as a result of the study included: (a) the employment of a public relations officer at all times; (b) a director's level title or higher for the public relations officer; (c) utilization of a media policy that includes a plan for damage control; and (d) examination of internal public relations issues at the technical institute now known as Pellissippi State Technical Community College.

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