Having been founded less than four years ago, Kent State University’s Office of Student Research (OSR) is still in the process of raising program awareness among the university’s student body. The OSR’s Director, Ms. Ann Gosky, connected with our six-member Business Consulting and Practicum course group at the beginning of the spring 2020 semester. We were tasked with developing a plan to enable the OSR to more effectively reach underrepresented student demographics – including Latino/a, Hispanic, African American, international, first-generation, low-income, and/or Pell Grant eligible students – with its marketing materials, with the ultimate goal of increasing underrepresented student participation across all OSR programs. Our project consisted of two primary initiatives: 1) networking across the university to create connections through which to market the OSR’s programs to underrepresented demographics; and 2) establishing a future marketing internship position within the OSR that would involve maintaining and building upon our group’s progress with underrepresented student outreach going forward.

We are graduating Business Management students in the college of business. We are participating in this symposium as a result of our Business Consulting and Practicum course. Our group is working with Ann Gosky and the Department of Research directly to increase their marketing endeavors and awareness of research events and programs. The group is researching marketing solutions and implementing a social media platform to better advertise Undergraduate research opportunities. Another tool we utilized to promote this program was to table at the Beverly J Warren Student Recreational and Wellness Center. Our objective was to attract potential participants and attendees, we promoted the symposium by handing out koozies and lanyards to students. Throughout this experience we have learned how to promote more efficiently and effectively.