Paula Barrett

Name Paula Barrett
School Business
Program Bachelor of Communications Management (Honours)
Academic and professional designations
  • Bachelor of Arts, Rhetoric and Professional Writing, University of Waterloo
  • Master of Arts, Language and Professional Writing, University of Waterloo
  • Member and Past-President, International Association of Business Communicators, Waterloo Chapter
Title Professor/ Program Coordinator
Courses taught
  • Introduction to Public Relations
  • Media Relations
  • Ethics of Advocacy
  • Writing for Not-for-Profit
  • PR Consulting
  • PR Capstone
Areas of expertise & interest
  • PR ethics / Corporate Social Responsibility
  • PR practice
  • Leadership / Executive Communication
  • Issues & Crisis Management
Industry experience, professional currency activitiesCurrent:
  • Freelance strategic communications consulting and professional writing (corporate and not-for-profit sectors);
  • Program designer and facilitator, Communitech Academy

Past:

  • Director, Executive Communication, Sun Life Financial
  • Director, Internal Communications, Clarica Life Insurance Company
  • Marketing Specialist, Wilfrid Laurier University
Major research projects, scholarly activities, and/or publications
  • Chapter co-author, Public Relations Cases: International Perspectives (Routledge Press) M.A. thesis: Collaboration in the Writing Classroom
  • Founder, IABC Break Through Communications Conference (Waterloo Region), now an annual sold-out conference for marketing and communications practitioners
Additional information I'm a creative communicator and educator with a flair for language and a passion for helping others. In the past three years I have launched a student-run PR agency, built a regional communications conference (now three years running) and engaged students in Creative Day for Social Good, a two-day marathon producing creative work for 20+ charities, based at Google headquarters and in partnership with several local agencies. I'm privileged to share my passion for PR with our Bachelor of PR students.

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