Sarab Kohhar and Harold Burson, founding Chairman of Burson-Marsteller.
Congratulations to UF public relations doctoral student Sarabdeep Kochhar for being named the recipient of the 2013 Public Relations Society of America Chester Burger Scholarship for Excellence in Public Relations. She received the award at the PRSA Foundation dinner in New York City in April.
The scholarship was created to encourage graduate public relations students to pursue careers in corporate public relations, with the goal of making the public relations function more essential to the successful achievement of corporate goals consistent with the public interest, the precepts of sound business and the needs of key stakeholders.
“Sarab has been my teaching assistant, research assistant, and co-author in conference papers and publications,” said Interim Public Relations Department Chair Juan-Carlos Molleda. “She has been very successful and productive as a doctoral student and I am confident she will be a very attractive candidate for opportunities in the communications and higher education fields.”
The scholarship is named in honor of Chester Burger, one of the pre-eminent leaders in the public relations profession who helped shape the discipline of public relations counseling. He died in 2011.
Kochhar’s research focuses on international public relations, business strategy, and business diplomacy.
“I have presented my work at leading communication and public relations conferences nationally and internationally, written book chapters, and am now co-authoring a book with Public Relations Interim Chair Juan-Carlos Molleda,” said Kohhar. “After I graduate in Spring 2014, I would like to conduct research in the academia and industry.”
Congratulations to Steven Gallo who has been selected to compete in the television news category in the 2013 Hearst Journalism Awards Program next month in San Francisco. Steven joins Alex Orlando who was informed earlier this month that he had qualified for the finals in the Hearst writing competition.
Alex Orlando
Finalists in five categories will gather in San Francisco June 3-7 to compete for additional scholarship awards ranging from $1,500 to $5,000. This is the second year in a row that our College has sent two students to the finals. Last year, Steven won the radio news competition and Jon Silman, JM 2012, took first place in the writing competition.
Steven will graduate this weekend and start in our graduate program this fall. Alex is currently an intern at the Tampa Bay Times.
Retired University of Florida Professor Joseph Pisani will return to the UF College of Journalism and Communications this summer to serve as Interim Chairman of the Department of Advertising.
Pisani, who retired as Professor of Advertising in 2005 and served as Chairman of the Department from 1982 to 2001, succeeds current Advertising Chairman John Sutherland, who is retiring July 1.
“We are so pleased that Joe is returning to the College to help us during this transitional period,” UF College of Journalism and Communications Dean Diane McFarlin said. “We are continuing our search for the new Advertising Chairman, but for now it’s great to know the Department and its students are in such capable hands.”
Pisani joined UF’s advertising faculty as an Associate Professor in 1973 and was promoted to Professor in 1977. He was named Chair of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations in 1982 and became Chair of Advertising when the two programs separated into two departments in 1987.
“I have an intense loyalty to this College and its faculty and students, and I look forward to being back,” said Pisani. “With the new facilities we have at the College and especially with the work being done in digital, I am so excited to find ways to get our advertising students more involved in these opportunities.”
Pisani, a New York City native, earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Fordham University in 1960, an M.B.A. from UCLA in 1961 and a Ph.D. in economics and business administration from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1972.
Pisani received two outstanding teaching awards and an outstanding advising award while at the College. In 2002, the Department of Advertising created the Joseph R. Pisani Award for Service in Advertising, an award that is presented to a student each spring during the College’s annual awards ceremony.
In 1995, the Gainesville Advertising Federation awarded him the AAF Silver Medal in recognition of his contributions to advertising and the Gainesville community.
Congratulations to the WUFT-FM staff and students for winning seven 2013 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. The Radio Television Digital News Association announced the awards today.
The awards recognize work of the highest quality produced by radio, television and online news organizations around the world. The regional winners are automatically entered in the national Edward R. Murrow Awards competition, which will be judged during the summer. National awards will be presented at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City on Columbus Day.
WUFT-FM, competing in the small market radio category against stations from Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, won the following:
Congratulations to Casey Kochey, MAMC – Journalism, who has received a 2012-13 Graduate Student Teaching Award from the University of Florida. Casey, a native of St. Petersburg, will graduate this semester with his master’s degree.
Each academic year, the UF Graduate School recognizes the best, brightest and most industrious of the University’s graduate teaching assistants for their work as instructors in the classroom and laboratory. Only 20 UF graduate students received the award this year.
Casey has been the lecture assistant for JOU3109 Multimedia Writing and also taught a three-hour lab section the last two years. Casey helped create lesson plans, wrote exams and quiz questions, managed student grades and helped lead a team of six lab instructors.
AP’s Martha Mendoza (center) with Brechner Center Executive Director Sandra F. Chance and Dean Diane McFarlin.
The Associated Press has been named the winner of the 27th Annual Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Award for its ground-breaking investigative series, “Access Denied,” which tested the right-to-information laws in the more than 100 counties that have them.
“This series highlighted the importance of access to government information in a democracy and the ability of people around the world to hold their governmental officials accountable, expose government corruption, abuse, illegal, and sometimes, criminal activities,” Sandra F. Chance, executive director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, said.
UF College of Journalism and Communications Dean Diane McFarlin presented the $3,000 prize to The AP’s national reporter Martha Mendoza at an awards ceremony on April 9, 2013, in the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
“The AP’s strong investigative reporting revealed shocking results, including the fact that the governments of Mexico and Guatemala released more information than the United States,” Chance said. “This is the kind of reporting that reminds us that the laws are only as effective as the government’s commitment to openness and transparency, and how important a free press is in guarding against government wrongdoing.”
Right-to-know laws have spread rapidly over the past decade and, on paper, present a powerful way to engage citizens and expose corruption. The AP sent 120 reporters to test the promise of open government laws in 100 countries, many with new laws. Unfortunately, according to the series, more than half the countries do not follow them and even when some countries do follow the law, “the information is at best useless, and at worst, deadly.
The annual award was established by the late Joseph L. Brechner, an Orlando broadcaster. Previous award winners include: the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, the Columbia Journalism Review, The St. Petersburg Times, The Dallas Morning News, the Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) and the Houston Chronicle.
Located at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, Fla., the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information exists to educate and promote freedom of information laws and policies. It serves the students of UF, Florida citizens, media lawyers and journalists nationally and internationally by providing training sessions, answering queries and conducting scholarly research on First Amendment and freedom of information issues.
Watch Mendoza’s presentation at the award ceremony
On Tuesday, March 26, UF PRSSA and the PR Advisory Council presented “Connected Minds Ignite Ideas” featuring Jonathan Jones in Gannett Auditorium. Jones is the Sr. Manager for Emerging Channels at NRG Energy. In that role, he is responsible for identifying and developing new media, marketing & technology channels such as social media and mobile to market NRGs products and services. Most recently he launched Reliant Energy’s social media presence and mobile channels. Prior to that, Jones has spent the last decade in the high-tech and marketing industries at companies like HP & Cyberonics, and most recently as Product Manager at Mezeo, a cloud-based collaboration startup.
