frank is more than just a gathering. It is an essential home for movement builders and change makers – the people who use communications to drive positive social, institutional and behavioral change. Organized by the University of Florida Center for Public Interest Communications, frank gathering informs and drives the field of public interest communications through research, insights
Now launching its second decade,
Our team is made up of strategists, researchers, artists, journalists, students, educators and more. From corporate leadership to the research lab, to the grassroots on the street innovator, we at frank believe in using evidence-based strategies to drive collaborative growth. If you see yourself in our mission, then we welcome you to join the team.
Why are we called ‘frank’?
frank not only refers to our direct and candid approach to our work in public interest communications,
Who is Frank Karel?
As a leader who spent his 30-year career using communication for social change, and as vice president for communications for the Robert Wood Johnson and Rockefeller Foundations, Frank recognized the critical importance of strategic communication in taking on the world’s most important challenges.
His vision nurtured and grew our field. So frank refers not only to the candor and directness with which we approach our work but also to our affection for him.
As part of his vision to build the field of public interest communications, Frank and his wife, Betsy, endowed a chair in public interest communications at his beloved alma mater, the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida.
The chair is responsible for building a curriculum in public interest communications, mentoring and advising students who plan to build careers in the field, identifying connections with other fields, establishing community among those who work in public interest communications and building the community of scholars whose research will help establish public interest communications as a discipline.
The team behind frank would like to recognize that our headquarters, the University of Florida Gainesville campus, is located in the ancestral territory of the Potano, Timucua and Seminole people.
The University of Florida is also a land-grant institution, which directly benefited from the appropriation of land and resources from native people across the North American continent.
We acknowledge our obligation to honor the past, present and future native cultures and residents located in what is now considered the state of Florida and the United States