Kathleen Kelly named Public Relations Chair
(March 5, 2003) Dr. Kathleen Kelly has accepted the position of chair, Department of Public Relations, effective July 1, 2003, Dean Terry Hynes announced today. "Kathy is a national leader in public relations education and widely respected as a public relations teacher-scholar and practitioner," Hynes said. Kelly will join the college from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she has been a faculty member for 11 years. She is the Hubert J. Bourgeois Research Professor in Communication at that institution.
Kelly was a university administrator, development officer, and public relations practitioner for 17 years prior to completing her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. Her research specialty is philanthropy. She has published two books [Fund-Raising and Public Relations (1991) and Effective Fund-Raising Management (1998)] and numerous refereed journal articles and book chapters on this subject. She holds CFRE certification from the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives.
Kelly also holds APR accreditation from the Public Relations Society of America. She is a long-time member of PRSA and was elected to PRSA's College of Fellows in 1996, an honor granted to those who make "exceptional contributions to and performance in the field of public relations."
Among her other honors and awards is the 1995 Pathfinder Award from the Institute for Public Relations, given for original research that "has made a significant contribution to the body of knowledge and practice of public relations." She also is the only scholar to have received two PRIDE (Public Relations Innovation, Development, and Educational Achievement) awards (1991 and 1994) for sole-authored work since the award program began in 1989. The PRIDE Award is given by the National Communication Association's Public Relations Division .
Kelly also is a member of the Accrediting Committee of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, a trustee of the national board of the Institute for Public Relations, and a member of PRSA's Commission on Public Relations Education, among other organization memberships and service activities.
Kelly earned the Ph.D. in public communications, the M.A. in journalism/public
relations, and the B.S. in journalism/news-editorial--all from the
University of Maryland.
Kelly will succeed Jim Terhune in this position. "Jim's long record
of service and accomplishments make his position exceptionally difficult
to fill.
I think we have found a worthy successor to build on the strengths
that
Jim
and others
have created," Hynes said.
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