eChaser: April 2009 / p3

A job listing at dfwcommunicators.com targeted to area communications professionals could make your recruitment dollars go further. DFW Communicators Job Bank listings include full-time, part-time and internship positions in PR, media affairs, advertising/sales, event planning, graphic design, marketing, and corporate and employee communications throughout North Texas. Employers who are members of the participating organizations may post a job listing for $50; the cost for nonmembers is $75. Nonprofits get a 50 percent discount. Each posting runs three weeks. Greater Fort Worth PRSA receives a portion of the proceeds when a member marks his or her membership status on the submission form. More from Jerrod Resweber at jresweber@webershandwick.com or 469-375-0216.

===========================================================

NEW MEMBERS

SPJ ... Misty Dent ... Bobby Joe Duty, Wise County Messenger

PRSA ... Cristina Noriega ... Corey Lark, Open Channels Group ... Dave Pelletier, Hillwood

===========================================================

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Andra Bennett House, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

Tell me, and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand. — Native American saying

There is one among us who has been teaching, telling, showing and involving students, communications professionals and educators in the local and global PR community for decades. Douglas Ann “Doug” Newsom, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, director of TCU’s advertising and public relations graduate programs, retires this year from the Schieffer School of Journalism. Her incredible career has impacted thousands of students — those who had the privilege of learning in her classroom, those who have studied her public relations textbooks, and those who have long since graduated college yet still learn from her.

She’s a past president of both Dallas and Fort Worth PRSA chapters and a co-founder of PRSA national’s Educators Section, plus its first female Educator of the Year. Last December, GFW PRSA honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The impressive list of her leadership activities, awards and international fame are all listed on our chapter’s blog.

I remember Dr. Newsom encouraging me as a new PRSA member in the early ‘90s to get involved and take the APR exam. When I encountered an ethical dilemma in a job situation, she assured me that I had done the right thing, even at a high cost: my job. When I was in a quandary about a career move, she had wise words about stepping up or down a rung vs. finding another ladder.

Many of you have similar experiences. Please take a few moments to send Dr. Newsom a note and thank her for the leadership and dedication she has shown to the profession and to PRSA.

Dr. Douglas Ann Newsom, APR, Fellow PRSA

Professor, Schieffer School of Journalism

TCU Box 298060

Fort Worth, Texas 76129

d.newsom@tcu.edu

And in Dr. Newsom’s honor, sign up today with PRSSA liaison Jahnae Stout to participate in our annual Pro-Am Day. No charge, just a bit of time to have a PRSSA student shadow you April 8 and to review student résumés and portfolios after our monthly luncheon.

Thank you, Dr. Newsom, for helping us all to better understand our craft.

-----

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Betsy Deck, IABC Fort Worth

We are so excited that IABC Fort Worth now has a student chapter. Students from Texas Wesleyan have joined the ranks of business professionals and are ready to hear from you. They are hosting regular meetings with presentations from business professionals. These bright young minds are eager and willing to intern for your business.

If you’ve been recently laid off, you need IABC more than ever. We encourage you to continue to attend IABC luncheons and network. If you choose to join or renew your membership, we will rebate your local fee in the form of two luncheons. Please use IABC as your communications resource in this economy.

If you need a job, want a job or are sick of working for “the man,” join us for more job resources at our professional development half-day seminar, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. April 28 at Texas Wesleyan University. Lots of great table hosts will be on hand with great advice to get your professional mojo working!

Thanks as always for making IABC Fort Worth great!

-----

OVER & OUT

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

OpenTheGovernment.org director Patrice McDermott, an expert on government secrecy and what’s being done to combat it, will keynote the 6th annual First Amendment Awards and Scholarship Dinner, April 17 at Cacharel in Arlington. It’s a fine time, the closest we come to glitter, and it just won’t be pecan-crusted chicken without you. ...

This is why we do it. “There are no words to express my appreciation to the Society of Professional Journalists for your commitment to educating future journalists. The students in the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists Urban Journalism Workshop thoroughly enjoyed the conference last weekend and they benefited greatly from the sessions. Please extend my heartfelt thanks to the regional officers, the committee and the donor who helped underwrite part of the registration fee. If there is ever anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out!” And the SPJ Region 8 Conference last month at the Hilton downtown thoroughly enjoyed Dallas Weekly editor Cheryl Smith’s students and everyone else’s students and all the professional journalists and educators, several of them not only attendees but presenters, who made the weekend a success. Have some numbers: 30 presenters, 48 non-student professionals (journalism or otherwise) in attendance, 58 students (representing UNT, TCC Northeast, UTA, UT Austin, Texas State in San Marcos, TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Abilene Christian) and not one unhappy customer. Mike Cochran launched the thing Friday night with Cowtown class, Hagit Limor (WCPO-TV, Cincinnati) maintained a dynamic and upbeat tone the next morning, and Gilbert Bailón (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) offered a glimpse of better times amid the gloom. The sessions had zing, the instructors had snap, the participants had questions (and got answers). Hats off to conference director Kay Pirtle, ace fundraiser Janet Neff and FW SPJ president Eddye Galladher and her board. You people know how to put on a show. ...

Here’s something you need to know (but may not want to). And could this help? ...

The St. Petersburg Times on Feb. 8 printed reader ideas on how to fix the economy. One David Otterson responded: “There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force … pay them $1 million apiece severance with stipulations. They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings — unemployment fixed. They buy new American cars. Forty million cars ordered — auto industry fixed. They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage — housing crisis fixed.” You’re smiling, but you’re musing, too, huh?

Closing words: “I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” — journalist and novelist Rebecca West ... “I ain’t a Communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life.” — Woody Guthrie ... “Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it you have it all over.” — Elvis Presley ... “Nobody ought ever to do that again.” — the first words out of the barrel from Annie Edson Taylor, who in 1901 became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls; she was 63, penniless and hoped the stunt would bring her fame and fortune