Public Relations students should be excited about the role they will play in their profession, a former political science professor from Russia said Thursday.
"You are the future of the profession and the greatest hope of America," Alaxander Borisov, former professor, said. "You have had great predecessors who found and nearly perfected the field. Your mission should be to bring it forward."
Borisov, a Russian pioneer in public relations, came to Ball State to research the university's public relations program and speak to students during his program titled, "Transformation and Changes in Russia." The Ball State chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America sponsored his presentation.
Borisov described the business of public relations as a global tsunami.
"Our profession is transnational," Borisov said. "It is recognized as a very effective tool for raising issues and awareness. Public Relations is about transferring brain power into good accounts and profit. Public relations is a business, not a charity and should be treated accordingly. This world is driven by clever people and our business reflects this."
Borisov said public relations wasn't introduced as a business in Russia until July of 1991. The country now has 180 public relations firms and it has become a $220 million a year business.
"The Russian PR industry has become, in the last decade, part of the global PR industry," Borisov said.
Students who listened to Borisov said they learned a lot from him.
"I got a broad perspective of the differences between the business of public relations in Russia and the business here in the U.S.," junior Chris Dorman said. "I was glad to hear Borisov state that we are the future of the business and to describe it as a transnational concept of raising issues and making a difference."
Borisov was a professor and dean for the department of international communications at Moscow's State Institute for International Relations and traveled as a government consultant on the issue of unfair trade practices.
He was also appointed senior adviser for the Russian delegation at the London Information Forum of Conferences on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the General Conferences of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
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