SCC 420: Risk and Crisis Communication By: Dominique Francisco, Jack Atkinson, Megan McCall, and Easton Miller.
November 21, 2018
Risk and Crisis Communication is a course offered at Chapman University that focuses on teaching students about potential crises or unexpected events that may threaten a company’s reputation or performance. We were fortunate enough to be taught by a professor with an extensive background in public relations; whom often deals with crisis situations. He emphasized multiple times throughout the semester that this was not an ethics course and it is important for us to understand how to deal with crises scenarios rather than study why people make bad decisions. For all four of us, it was exciting to take this course because it was practical and taught the importance of clarity and preparedness inside a corporation.
First off, this course was taught from a hands-on viewpoint rather than just theory. We analyzed real-life case studies involving companies that Americans interact with on a daily basis. By doing so, we were able to see how a common crisis can be and the importance of handling situations honestly and quickly. Secondly, this course allowed students to stay in touch with current events. Students are asked to find news articles that are related to course content and post them to an online discussion board each week. This method created class engagement and education outside of the classroom. Finally, Risk and Crisis Communication require students to create their own crisis plan for a company. This assignment encourages critical thinking by analyzing all possible crises, understanding how to prepare for them, knowing how to handle the situation, being aware of reliable first-response contacts and the best ways for updating the public through the media. Each of us found it extremely helpful to be given real-life scenarios and told to handle them as if we were in the shoes of the president or founder.
Risk and Crisis Communication is an important course for more than just strategic and corporate communication majors because crises can happen to any company in any field of study. Dominique Francisco, a strategic and corporate communication major stated that, “I knew about the professor beforehand but had little knowledge of what the class entailed. After the semester finished, I felt confident in my ability to effectively prepare and handle a crisis, which is important for me since plan to run my own business in the future.”
If you’re looking for a course that applies real-world skills to the curriculum and adds credibility to your resume, then you may benefit from taking Risk and Crisis Communication; as our knowledge and confidence in handling sensitive situations has grown exponentially since the start of the semester. We hope that you can either take this course or take the time to learn about crisis communication, in the event that you may come face to face with one of your own.
Should you have any questions or would like to know more about our experience in the class, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us! Below we have included a few links to some of our projects we worked on throughout the semester! Enjoy!
