Student Spotlight: Allison Bohanan, University of Texas at Austin

Allison Bohanan is the WCA student group president at The University of Texas at Austin and she will also be working on the WCA sponsorship committee this year.

Born and raised in San Antonio, Allison is now in her senior year as a public relations major at UT, as well as finishing up her minor in French and certificate in business foundations. She is keeping herself very busy. In addition to her classes, this fall she will be interning at Cohn & Wolfe, a global public relations agency, where she will be working on social media and media outreach for several of their clients. Additionally, she will be starting her second year as the communications coordinator for Senior Fellows, the honors program of the Moody College of Communication.

For the past three years, she has been a member of the Longhorn Pep Band that plays at UT basketball and volleyball games. She is also a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America and four on-campus honor societies.

Allison has been a member of WCA since her sophomore year after a friend enticed her to attend a meeting and she was immediately hooked. As Alison puts it, “WCA provided me with a great group of women to hang out with every other week while learning how to further my career in communications and hear from talented women who have made a name for themselves in the field.”

 

Q: What is the student group at WCA currently doing or planning for this year?

A: With the new name comes many possibilities for growth and new traditions. This year we will be really focused on increasing our membership numbers and bringing in guest speakers from across the communications field that our members can relate to and learn from. We are also hoping to make WCA a professional as well as a social organization. We want WCA to be a place where our members can learn, but also make friends and develop a community of women who have the same aspirations and interests as they do.

Q: What are you most looking forward to for this year with WCA?

A: I am looking forward to the opportunity to really help this organization have a presence not only with the Moody College of Communication, but across the entire UT Austin campus. I am also looking forward to our relationship with our new liaison Karen Aroian. She has some great ideas and I believe this partnership will be profoundly beneficial for the group.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time? Any interesting hobbies or talents we should know about?

A: In my spare time, I enjoy exploring the beautiful city of Austin, Texas and trying my hand at photography. I’m not an expert, but I love taking pictures of the things around me in the hope of preserving memories that will last forever. I have been playing the flute and piccolo since I was in 6^th grade. I also love cleaning my apartment, which is kind of weird.

Q: What is one of your favorite places in Austin to unwind or get inspired?

A: I love studying at Starbucks. Some people may say it’s a little loud, but I love to people watch and I always enjoy a good cup of coffee. I also like to relax in the architecture library on campus. It’s one of the oldest libraries on campus and it kind of looks like Hogwarts.

Q: What are your dreams or plans for after you graduate?

A: My main plan is to find a job in public relations in either Austin or San Antonio. I also hope to travel a little bit after graduation; I’d love to visit Ireland and Germany.

 

If you would like to learn more about the WCA student groups and how you can get involved with great events like speed mentoring, please contact Karen Aroian, VP of Student Programming at students@wcaustin.org