frank is more than just a gathering. It is an essential community for builders and changemakers — 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 and news.
Now launching its second decade, frank is bringing changemakers together from across the globe.
Our community is made up of strategists, researchers, artists, journalists, students, innovator and more. From corporate innovation to the research lab, to the grassroots on the street changemaker, the frank community believes in using evidence-based strategies to drive change. If you see yourself supporting our mission, we welcome you into our community.
Why are we called ‘frank’?
frank not only refers to our direct and candid approach to public interest communications,
it pays homage to Frank Karel, the big thinker who invested so much in building the field for today’s trailblazers who use strategic communications to drive change.
Who is Frank Karel?
As a leader who spent his 30-year career using communication for change, and as vice president of communications for the Robert Wood Johnson and Rockefeller Foundations, Frank recognized the critical importance of strategic communication in taking on the world’s most pressing 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 to establish public interest communications as a discipline.
Toward the conclusion of her 10-year term, inaugural Karel Chair Ann Searight Christiano established the self-supporting Center for Public Interest Communications. The Center helps organizations around the world discover how behavioral, cognitive and social science can unveil insights into how people think, make decisions and behave. Through the use of science, systems thinking and human-centered design, the Center helps organizations create and implement powerful communication strategies.
Meet the Team
frank is coordinated and operated by the staff of the UF Center for Public Interest Communications and a team of UF students and consultants.