Grady Dawgs Take on Delta

By Sarah Thomas

On October 5th, a little over twenty students representing the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication traveled to the Delta Headquarters in Atlanta. Among them were representatives from Ad Club, Talking Dawg, and PRSSA. They were  accompanied by Grady faculty to learn about the communication and global strategy departments within Delta Airlines. Students sat in on three different panels organized by Delta and moderated by Trebor Banstetter, who serves on the ADPR Executive Advisory Board. During these three panels, students learned about the company’s communication departments and talked about storytelling to stakeholders, internal communications, global strategies, and college career transitions. We even heard from previous PRSSA Vice President Riley Mason, who now serves as a Revenue Management Pricing Analyst and works full-time at Delta.

After these panels, students were treated to lunch and a Q&A with Delta’s Vice President of Global Communications, Gina Laughlin. Mrs. Laughlin shared her experience as a Public Relations and Political Science student at Syracuse University, and answered many of the ADPR students’ questions about her job and work experience. Once this Q&A concluded, these
undergrads were given a tour of Delta’s Operations and Customer Center (OCC) and the Delta Flight Museum. There, they learned about how Delta monitors the weather conditions and flight patterns for over five thousand flights every single day. We also learned about the three areas the OCC covers: flight management, system management, and operations support. In the museum, students were guided through the different exhibits and the history of the company. A highlight of the museum tour for many of the students was the B-767 The Spirit of Delta, an actual aircraft that traveled “70,697 hours and 34,389 trip cycles” (B-767 The Spirit of Delta, n.d.).

Finally, Grady undergraduates ended the experience with a Q&A panel with Senior Vice President–Chief Communicating Officer Tim Mapes. Mr. Mapes is a University of Georgia alumnus who was also a former Grady student. He gave an inspiring speech to the group about the importance of the ADPR industry and took a great picture with the undergraduates, who, of
course, called the Dawgs. As one of the students given the opportunity to go on this trip, I was truly honored and grateful for Delta and the time and care they gave to showcase communications and ADPR at their company. The day was filled with incredible industry professionals who made all of us feel like family while we were on the campus.

B-767 The spirit of Delta. (n.d.). Default.
https://deltamuseum.org/experiences/exhibits/aircraft-on-view-inside/inside-exhibits/b-767-the-spirit-of-delt