Endowed Scholarship Being Established for Country’s First Full-Time Public Relations Professor

AUSTIN, Texas – July 12, 2007 – The College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin, along with alumni and public relations practitioners from across the country, has begun a fundraising effort to create an endowed scholarship in honor of the late Dr. Alan Scott, the first full-time public relations professor in the country.

A longtime faculty member in the College of Communication’s public relations program, which is now part of the Department of Advertising, Scott had a significant impact on both students and colleagues. In the mid-1960s, he established one of the nation’s first chapters of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), today’s leading pre-professional student organization, on The University of Texas at Austin campus. That chapter is now named for Scott.

“Dr. Scott’s intellectual curiosity was contagious, and he was generous with his time and resources in supporting students in their plans to be successful public relations practitioners,” said Elisa Davis Faye, co-chairwoman of the Dr. Alan Scott Scholarship Steering Committee. “It’s due time to honor this incredible professor with a scholarship in his name.”

Once the scholarship is funded (a minimum of $25,000), it will become a permanent endowment held by The University of Texas System to honor Scott and to support undergraduate public relations students in perpetuity.

“The Dr. Alan Scott Scholarship will support upper-division students majoring in public relations with financial need,” said Dorothy Laves Wolchansky Eastman, co-chairwoman of the Dr. Alan Scott Scholarship Steering Committee.

Scott taught public relations and advertising at The University of Texas at Austin for 34 years until he retired in 1983. He helped found the Texas Public Relations Association and for 15 years was its executive director. He died in 2001.

For more information on the Web, visit: Dr. Alan Scott bio and Dr. Alan Scott Scholarship.

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Contact:
Abigail Maher
(512) 471-0609