In the hot Texas sun, sweating and wondering...

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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN -- Tom Burke, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA 

Just sitting here in the hot Texas sun, sweating and wondering ...

... When is it okay to call a woman a fellow? Well, when that woman is Dr. Amiso M. George, APR. Amiso is a member of the Greater Fort Worth PRSA Chapter, and she's just been accepted by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) into its prestigious College of Fellows. The College of Fellows is an honorary organization within PRSA comprised of nearly 500 accredited practitioners and educators with at least 20 years of experience in the business. That's the top two percent of the profession who are members of PRSA.

Dr. George is an associate professor of strategic communication and advisor of the TCU-PRSSA/Bateman Team, Schieffer School of Journalism, Texas Christian University. Dr. George will be inducted into the College of Fellows at the PRSA International Conference in Washington, D.C., in October. She will be the fifth member of the Greater Fort Worth PRSA Chapter to become a Fellow. The four others are Dr. Doug Newsom, APR, Carolyn Bobo, APR, Bill Lawrence, APR and Mary Dulle, APR. It's a tribute to our Chapter that nearly four percent of our members are PRSA Fellows.

... What would we have done, and what would have happened, if the BP oil well in the Gulf couldn't be capped and the flow of oil stopped? What happens if we can't stop the flow of an underground oil well in the future?

... Was Neil Armstrong chewing gum when he walked on the moon 41 years ago, last month?

... How can millions of people daily be able to view a video being transmitted from a mile underwater, but the local cable company can't maintain service to my house during a thunderstorm?

... If there now are 400 billionaires in the world, why aren't we hearing about the many good things they are doing with their money to benefit the human race?

... If members of the millennial generation are supposed to be such collaborative communicators, why are they like so many other youngsters and do not talk to their parents?

... Shouldn't there be a national holiday for the original Anthora's inventor, who recently died?

... If we are supposed to be flying the friendly skies, why are so many pilots depressed? Just recently, the FAA changed a generations-old policy and began allowing pilots with mild to moderate depression to fly while taking antidepressants. The thought of having a depressed pilot in the cockpit depresses me.

... If after reading the August issue of Texas Monthly, you wondered, as I did, if John Graves found a back porch while he was at TCU.

Try to stay cool. Hopefully, August will fly by and give way to cooler weather and the 2010 college football season!