Editorial Record: Submitted August 8, 2024. Revised and accepted December 10, 2025.
Authors
Candice L. Edrington
Assistant Professor
University of South Carolina
South Carolina, USA
Email: candicee@mailbox.sc.edu
Damion Waymer
Professor
University of South Carolina
South Carolina, USA
Email: dwaymer@mailbox.sc.edu
Maryam Goli
Ph.D. Student
University of South Carolina
South Carolina, USA
Email: mgoli@email.sc.edu
LaTonya Taylor
Ph.D. Candidate
University of Alabama
Alabama, USA
Email: ltaylor12@crimson.ua.edu
ABSTRACT
This study extends the scholarly literature that addresses diversity issues in public relations graduate education by focusing on the lived experiences of former Black graduate public relations students (all of whom were practitioners before full-time or part-time university teaching). By conducting in-depth interviews of nine participants, we assess the experiences they had in their graduate programs as well as how those experiences manifest in the relationships that they have (or had) with their Black graduate students. Results from this study provide practical insights that have the potential to assist public relations graduate programs in the recruiting and retaining of Black graduate students.