Office of Public Relations

holi fest, colorful powder in air
The Office of Public Relations at Portland Community College amplifies PCC’s story by creating engaging content for diverse audiences across multiple platforms. Through media relations, strategic communications and collaborations with local and national outlets, the team enhances PCC’s visibility, supports key initiatives and promotes the value of community colleges through Op-Eds, advertorials, and college-wide communications.

Analytics

The Office of Public Relations manages the news and media relations to support the brand experience in the digital space.

November Media & Web

 

November stats

Read the complete November media roundup.

Most viewed features from pcc.edu published in the past quarter (July 1 – Sept. 30).

Brianna Mascaro in labBrianna Mascaro keeps local hospital running as a biomedical equipment tech

PCC alum Brianna Mascaro loves her her work maintaining critical medical equipment at Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital in Vancouver, Washington. Despite initially postponing her dream due to family responsibilities, she eventually pursued her education with PCC’s Electronic Engineering Technology Program.

 

Mercy ship with students‘Discover Manufacturing’ class tours one of West Coast’s largest ship repair yards

Eleven lucky students toured Vigor Industrial and the Swan Island shipyard to showcase the rewarding careers that await them in the manufacturing industry. They visited Vigor’s bays and dry dock, PCC’s Swan Island Maritime Welding Training Center and the U.S. Navy hospital ship “Mercy,” which is docked for repairs.

 

Christopher-Bryde on cliffPCC grad aims to compete in adaptive sports at 2025 Invictus Games

PCC alum and medically retired Marine Christopher Bryde will compete at the Vancouver Whistler 2025 Invictus Games. When he returned to Portland after serving in the military and being injured, he enrolled at PCC, getting the support he needed to readjust to civilian life and cope with his new abilities.

 

Featured Campaigns

This academic year, professionals in the Office of Public Relations will complete hundreds of projects in support of college initiatives and priorities. Part of the team’s work includes overseeing communications campaigns that highlight important projects and work at PCC. Below are the campaigns for 2024-25.

Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept-Oct.)

Highlighted four stories of Latino alums, students and staff that represented the power of PCC and the success this community has with the college. This resulted in nearly 1,700 views, two local media stories and 3,000 engagements on X.com. See the results.

Center of Semiconductor Excellence (2024)

Positioning PCC as a leader in advanced manufacturing and semiconductor training by increasing awareness of PCC’s accessibility, affordability and support services in the field. Campaign is currently underway.

2025 Graduates & Commencement (2024-25)

Showcase the top students planning to graduate next June, 2025. This series of stories feature our soon-to-be graduates and their degrees, skills and variety of backgrounds and talents. Campaign is currently underway.

Impactful Alumni (2024-25)

PCC’s alums are making a difference in the community. These series of articles and media spotlight the ways these grads give back and support the greater Portland area. Campaign is currently underway.

Cascade Festival of African Films

This campaign will occur in February & March of 2025.

CTE Month

This campaign will occur in February of 2025.

Community College Month

This campaign will occur in April of 2025.

Media Relations

PCC’s Office of Public Relations is in charge of coordinating all official media outreach for the college. The team serves as the point of contact for all members of the media as well as any PCC employees wishing to promote their accomplishments, special projects or programs. Coming soon: Media training and project form for employees.

Resources for Media

Coming soon!

  • Speaker’s Bureau
  • Contact Details
  • Stock Photos & PCC Highlight Reel
  • Key Issues
  • Executive Leadership
Data Notes

Data for this page is managed by the Public Relations Team with assistance from marketing and Web Team. Definitions are common across the Marketing and Analytics community. Questions about this data? Contact jghill@pcc.edu with questions.

News and Storytelling

Three primary content vehicles are used by the Office of Public Relations for storytelling and news publishing on the pcc.edu domain.

  • PCC News – We deliver timely, trustworthy news to connect you to the impact that Portland Community College has on your life, your community and your world. PCC News offers exclusive coverage of developments on and around our campuses, programs or initiatives, local and regional issues, and honors and accomplishments. Includes content published at https://www.pcc.edu/news/.
  • Featured Stories – Stories reflect the strengths and vitality of PCC. This content emphasizes student success, faculty excellence and other aspects of the PCC Panther experience that appeal to future students and other key audiences. For all of our features and posts, we use WordPress.
  • Panther Pride – Published four times a year in partnership with the PCC Foundation, the Panther Pride e-Newsletter helps you stay up to date on college news, events, people, fundraising opportunities, and more. To sign up visit, https://www.pcc.edu/foundation/what-we-do/alumni/panther-pride-newsletter/
Media Placements

PCC uses Meltwater to track media placements across news sites and social media. Media placements include online newspaper outlets, television and radio.

  • Media placement – An article, as defined by the Meltwater platform: a piece of published content that contains a headline, content and a publish date.
  • National distribution outlets – News outlets that have a national, rather than local distribution. For our purposes, national distribution outlets are limited to those based in the United States and do not include international outlets.
Web Traffic

Portland Community College uses Google Analytics to track web traffic and behaviors across the pcc.edu domain.

  • User – An individual person browsing your website (technically, a unique browser cookie). Each user can visit your website multiple times, for example, 1 user could create 3 sessions on your website, with each session containing multiple pageviews.
  • Unique Pageviews – Counts a page once even if it was viewed multiple times within a single session. For example, if someone landed on your homepage, then viewed the ‘about us’ page and then navigated back to your homepage, the homepage would have 1 unique pageview (even though the page was viewed twice during the session).
  • Devices & Platform – This refers to what kind of device a user was on when accessing our content. We also track how they got to the story, such as via social media, website or other.

 

Who we are

James Hill

James Hill, Director of Public Relations

Misty Bouse

Misty Bouse, Public Relations Specialist

 

Related offices

Marketing Communications

The Office of Marketing and Communications leads college branding and various marketing outreach efforts to promote programs at PCC. It offers guidelines, tools, and services to help you meet your communication goals.