Investing in Initiative: New Broom Center Director Announces Grants

Dr. Kaye Sweetser, APR+M, Fellow PRSA, took the helm of the Glen M. Broom Center for Professional Development in Public Relations this summer.

Sweetser is a Navy veteran with more than two decades of PR experience and now serves as the Center’s director in addition to her duties as a professor of public relations in the School of Journalism and Media Studies.

The Broom Center, housed in San Diego State University’s School of Journalism and Media Studies, was founded in 2012 and strives to improve the public relations industry by focusing on those who practice it. The Center is named after Dr. Glen M. Broom, who wrote Cutlip & Center’s Effective Public Relations, a wildly popular public relations textbook that helped to teach a generation of practitioners.

“Glen Broom was the PR principles professor for an entire profession,” Sweetser said. “He defined an industry through his textbook, which is the most widely used PR textbook in the world. He focused on improving the profession by improving the people within it. That same approach is how the Broom Center carries on the legacy of Dr. Broom.”

To further this approach of investing in PR practitioners, the Center launched the new Broom Initiative. The initiative includes award opportunities such as research funding for untenured PR faculty, professional development participation events for PR students, and rebates for professors earning Accreditation in Public Relations or students earning the Certificate in Principles of Public Relations.

“The Center is focused on putting our next generation of PR in place to thrive,” said Sweetser. “The Broom Initiative creates tangible ways to invest in the people making our profession better.”

As the Broom Center steps into a new era under new leadership, it will continue to thrive in its efforts to invest in the next generation of public relations practitioners.

“Glen Broom helped to transform public relations, as an industry and academic discipline, said Dr. Noah Arceneaux, Director of SDSU School of Journalism and Media Studies. “I think that under Dr. Sweetser’s leadership, the Broom Center will continue and extend this influence into the next generation. She’s very passionate about what she believes, and a fantastic instructor. She’ll bring these talents to the Broom Center and help mentor students and working professionals. I have total confidence that she will succeed in this new role.”

To learn more about the Glen M. Broom Center for Professional Development in Public Relations and the Broom Initiative, visit https://psfa.sdsu.edu/jms/about_us/glen_broom_center.

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.