The NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, in order to "more clearly define its position in an evolving educational marketplace," has adopted the new name of Strategic Communication, Marketing and Media Management for a department that offers graduate degree programs and noncredit offerings in PR, marketing and graphic communications.

Removal is part of trend to discard PR in business/educational worlds.

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Payton, Doorley

John Doorley, who headed PR at Merck from 1987-2000 and who founded the program in 2005, has left NYU and is now with Mindful Reputation, data management and research firm.

The sequence, which continues to offer an M.S. in PR and corporate communications, became the biggest of its type in the U.S. It currently enrolls 372 students who pay about $65,000 for a two to four-year course of study (42 credits) exclusive of room and board. Many of the students have jobs and attend classes part-time. Few live on campus.

Paula Payton, who headed Salemaker, her own marketing and communications firm in Annapolis the past ten years, has been named director of Strategic Communication, Marketing and Media Management programs, which is in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Her background includes more than 20 years of working with leading consumer goods, services and retail companies on global strategic and branding initiatives.

She has a M.A. in Behavioral Science from the University of Chicago, a B.A. in psychology (with honors) from the University of Vermont, and a Certificate in Marketing Strategy from Cornell University.

There continues to be an M.S. in PR and Corporate Communications in the department which also offers an M.S. in Integrated Marketing and an M.A. in Graphic Communications Management and Technology.

Payton was interviewed at the PR Society of America conference in Philadelphia last October, explaining her mission to Marketwired.

Asked about the removal of PR from the department title over this group of degrees, she said the trend is for integration of communications disciplines leading to increased cooperation and effectiveness of all the disciplines.

Organizations Retreat from PR

The removal of “PR” from the overall title of the department is part of a retreat from the term that has been going on for decades.

The trend was accelerated in 1999 when a five-year study by PR Society of America found that “PR specialist” ranked 43rd in terms of believability on a list of 45 information sources. The $150,000 study was also funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Last year the Centre for Public Affairs of Melbourne published a four-page article titled, “Public Relations is Dead.”

The gist of the article was that PR no longer served corporate purposes which could be better accomplished via marketing and lobbying. What matters even more than what people think is what laws are made and/or enforced, said the article.

Mathewson Joined as Divisional Dean

Rosemary Anne Mathewson, J.D. L.L.M., joined NYU in October 2012 in the dual role of divisional dean of NYU-SCPS Division of Programs in Business, and as associate VP of University Enterprise Initiatives. From 2005-2011 she was managing director of Duke Corporate Education in London, heading global business development initiatives in Europe and Asia. She also developed programs for corporate clients in the U.K., Europe, South America, India, East Asia and New York. She was at NYU from 1995-2005, serving as assistant dean of Executive Development Programs at the NYU Stern School of Business.