Centers and Institutes

STEM Translational Communication Center

The mission of the STEM Translational Communication Center (STCC) is to improve human health and well-being by making scientific research more accessible, understandable, and actionable. Properly translated and communicated to various audiences, basic research in science, technology, engineering, and medicine (STEM) can lead to enhanced individual, family, group, and policy-level decision-making.

The STCC fosters strategic partnerships among university researchers, community members, and industry around evidence-based communication programs. The messages, techniques and strategies resulting from these collaborations can foster improved science and health literacy, which in turn can yield enhanced knowledge, engagement, and behavioral change.

The goals of the STCC are to:

• Advancing basic translational communication science by facilitating original research on STEM message design, dissemination, and evaluation.
• Offering services that enhance the ability of researchers to communicate more effectively with audiences outside the university.
• Fostering community interest and involvement in academic research.

The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information

The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida exists to advance understanding, appreciation and support for freedom of information in the state of Florida, the nation and the world.

The Brechner Center is the successor to the Florida Freedom of Information Clearinghouse, established in 1977. For nearly 10 years, the Clearinghouse operated under the direction of Professor Jo Anne Smith. Many of the funds for the Clearinghouse endowment were provided by the Florida news media.

Joseph L. Brechner, an Orlando broadcaster and advocate of freedom of information, provided more than $1 million for the eminent scholar endowment, funds to construct a suite of offices, and funds to enlarge the operational endowment.  In 1986, the Clearinghouse was renamed the Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information to honor Brechner. Through education and promotion of freedom of information laws and policies, the Center seeks to foster open government and a participatory democracy.  In addition, The Brechner Center serves the public with information about the First Amendment, freedom of information, and access to government information issues.

The Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project

The Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to current and contemporary issues affecting the First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, thought, assembly and petition. The project’s director is Clay Calvert, Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communication.

The Project addresses these issues in multiple ways, including by:

• Filing of legal briefs in court cases
• Authoring scholarly articles in the nation’s top law journals
• Publishing op-ed commentaries in mainstream newspapers
• Presenting speeches and papers at conferences and symposia across the country
• Providing commentary to news organization and media outlets
• Testifying before legislative bodies regarding bills affecting First Amendment rights

The First Amendment Project’s benefactor was Marion B. Brechner, who passed away in January 2011. Her son, Berl Brechner, maintains an active role with the College and the Project.

The Institute for Public Relations™

The Institute for Public Relations™ is an independent nonprofit organization founded in 1956 and dedicated to the science beneath the art of public relations™. It  exists to expand and document research-based knowledge in public relations, and to make this knowledge available and useful to practitioners, educators, researchers, and the clients they serve.

Everything the Institute publishes is available free on its www.instituteforpr.org.