Frank Ovaitt, president and CEO of the Institute for Public Relations (IPR), and Dr. Don Stacks, trustee and chair of the IPR Measurement Commission, received top service awards at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) last month.
Ovaitt received the Gerald Sass Distinguished Service Award, presented at the AEJMC conference by a sister organization, the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication. Stacks received AEJMC’s Dorothy Bowles Public Service Award. Both awards are based in part on connecting the work of academics and communications professionals.
Below are descriptions and videos of all presentations from the Gerald Sass Award Ceremony:
Ken Makovsky, co-chair of IPR and president of Makovsky, highlighted IPR’s role in advancing the public relations profession’s use of research.
Brad Rawlins, Ph.D., dean of the College of Media and Communication at Arkansas State University, presented the award to Frank Ovaitt.
Frank Ovaitt reviewed IPR’s historical contributions to the science beneath the art of public relations and described current research programs.
Don Wright, Ph.D., Harold Burson professor and chair in public relations at Boston University, unveiled the new Research Journal of the Institute for Public Relations.
Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., associate professor at Appalachian State University, discussed the Social Science of Social Media Research Center on the IPR website and related research work.
Mike Fernandez, past IPR co-chair and corporate vice president at Cargill, spoke about the future of research in public relations.
