Public Relations Foundation of Texas names Doug Newsom first Educator of the Year awardee

Fort Worth, TX

3/11/2008

The Public Relations Foundation of Texas (PRFT) launched its Educator of the Year Award at the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) conference and honored TCU's Doug Newsom as the inaugural recipient. The presentation was made at the TPRA Silver Spur/Best of Texas awards banquet Saturday, March 1.

“In keeping with the foundation’s mission of furthering public relations education in Texas, it seems fitting that we establish an award that recognizes teaching excellence in the field,” said Julie B. Fix, APR, chair of the PRFT board of trustees. “It is even more fitting that Doug Newsom, our first recipient, is so well known and so widely respected in and outside the state of Texas for just that quality.”

Newsom is a professor in the Schieffer School of Journalism at TCU and is director of the School's ad/pr graduate programs. A long time TPRA member, past president and charter life member of PRFT, Newsom is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and a member of the PRSA College of Fellows. She is co-author of three textbooks, co-editor of a women’s studies book and author of 12 book chapters.

Newsom has received TPRA’s Golden Spur Award, the Association of Women in Communications National Headliner Award and PRSA’s Educator of the Year Award. She has served as president of the Association of Education in Journalism, the North Texas and Fort Worth Chapters of PRSA, the Southwest Education Council for Journalism/Mass Communication, and the Fort Worth Chapter of Women in Communications, Inc.

A Fulbright lecturer in both India and Singapore, Newsom is listed in Who’s Who in Public Relations. She is a member of Kappa Tau Alpha, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Delta and Mortar Board national honorary organizations.

“The purpose of the PRFT Educator of the Year Award is to spotlight leaders in public relations education,” Fix said. “As the PRFT honors outstanding educators each year, we hope to continue to raise awareness of the importance of public relations education in colleges and universities throughout the state.”