PRSA in November!

*NOTE: DATE AND LOCATION CHANGE

PR practitioners often are faced with complicated, politically sensitive, ethical and moral dilemmas that may stray from black-and-white areas into the always complicated gray, where it often boils down to a judgment call. We can be called on to balance two sometimes conflicting ideas: loyalty to our employers, and a duty to society to provide open and honest communications. It can be easy to get "caught up" in conflicts between professional and personal ethical behavior and workplace pressures.

Where do you draw the line? How do you approach these sticky situations? How can we navigate the moral gray areas, while balancing the demands of our employers and colleagues?

At this joint program between the Dallas and Greater Fort Worth Chapters of PRSA, Doug Newsom, Ph.D, APR, Fellow PRSA, a professor in the Schieffer School of Journalism at Texas Christian University, will share insights she’s learned from her more than 50 years in the field.

When: Thursday, November 13, 2008

Where: Texas Star Conference Center
1400 Texas Star Pkwy in Euless

Times: Registration at 11:30 am; program begins at noon.

Cost: $30 for members with reservations; $40 for guests prepaid online; $25 for students. Without reservations, please add $5.

Register at the Dallas PRSA Web site: http://www.prsadallas.org

About Dr. Newsom:
Doug Newsom, Ph.D., APR, Fellow, is a professor in the Schieffer School of Journalism at Texas Christian University. She is the author of one book and co-author of three textbooks. She is director of the Schieffer School's ad/pr graduate programs. Also, Dr. Newsom serves as an elected member of the Council of the International Public Relations Association and is on the board of the International Public Relations Research Conference.

Dr. Newsom served as chair of the Public Relations Society of America's College of Fellows. In 1982, she won PRSA's Educator of the Year Award, becoming the first woman to receive the award. She was the second female president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the first public relations educator to hold that office. In 1996, Dr. Newsom was named a National Headliner by Women Communications, Inc., and received the Texas Public Relations Association's Golden Spur Award.

She has been president of the Texas Public Relations Association, the Dallas and Fort Worth Chapters of PRSA, the Southwest Education Council for Journalism/Mass Communication, Fort Worth Professional Chapter of Women in Communications, Inc., and head of the Educators' Section of PRSA, of which she was a co-founder and head of the PR Division of AEJMC. She is a co-founder of the minorities division of AEJMC. She has served as vice president of ASJMC, the organization of mass communication administrators. She is a charter life member of the Public Relations Foundation of Texas.

From 1981 until 1983, she chaired the Accrediting Committee which she had served on since 1979. The Committee reports to the Accrediting Council on Education for Journalism and Mass Communication.

National honorary organizations of which she is a member include: Kappa Tau Alpha, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Delta and Mortar Board.

A Fulbright lecturer in India during 1988 and in Singapore in 1998-1999, Dr. Newsom also has done workshops in Latvia, South Africa, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Vanuatu. Except for Latvia, workshop sponsors were the Cox International Center for Education and Training in Journalism and Mass Communication and the International Center for Economic Growth. The Latvia workshop was sponsored by the George Soros Foundation and USIA. She also has taught in TCU's London Centre.

In 1993, the J. Willard Ridings Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, which she was responsible for getting started at TCU, instituted a named scholarship for her. In 2001, Staley McBrayer endowed a scholarship at TCU in her honor. She is also the recipient of the Jon Riffel/PRSSA Championship Award, 1968-1992. She was national PRSSA coordinator in 1979-80 and is a member of the Friends of PRSSA.

In 1982, the University of Texas named her the Outstanding Public Relations Alumnus of the Year. Her degrees from there include a Bachelor of Journalism, cum laude, 1954; Bachelor of Fine Arts, summa cum laude (broadcasting), 1955; Masters of Journalism, 1956 and Doctor of Philosophy, 1978.

At TCU she has served as chair of the Journalism Department (1979-86), head of the Faculty Senate, chair of the University Advisory Committee, Coordinator of the Media Studies Graduate program until it was discontinued and then director of the Journalism Department's two graduate programs.

Her books include This Is PR: The Realities of Public Relations (with Judy VanSlyke Turk and Dean Kruckeberg) in its 9th edition in 2006; Public Relations Writing (with the late Bob Carrell) now with Jim Haynes, 7th edition 2005 and Media Writing, 2nd ed.(with the late Jim Wollert). The two writing books were the first in the field and she was the first with a PR principles text to challenge the long-standing text in the field.