The Institute for Public Relations announced today that Professor Paul Argenti, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, will receive the 2006 Pathfinder Award for his outstanding scholarly research and contributions to professional knowledge. The Institute will also bestow the Northwestern Mutual Best Master’s Thesis Award on University of Georgia graduate Catherine (Cassie) Sheldon.
The awards will be presented at the Annual Distinguished Lecture & Awards Dinner, Thursday, Nov. 9 at the New York City Yale Club. This year’s lecture will be delivered by Dr. James E. Grunig, professor emeritus, University of Maryland. As previously announced, Marilyn Laurie, president of Laurie Consulting and retired executive vice president for AT&T, will accept the Institute’s Alexander Hamilton Medal for lifetime achievement in public relations.
Tickets and tables for the event can be purchased by visiting the Institute’s website, instituteforpr.org, or by calling 352-392-0280.
Since 1977, Argenti has taught management and corporate communication. Prior to the Tuck School, he held faculty appointments at the Harvard Business School and the Columbia Business School. He has served as a visiting professor at the International University of Japan, the Helsinki School of Economics, Singapore Management University and Erasmus University. His books include The Power of Corporate Communication, co-authored with UCLA’s Janis Forman, The Fast Forward MBA Pocket Reference, and Corporate Communication. He has written more than 75 case studies plus numerous articles for academic and managerial journals. Argenti sits on the boards of the Institute for Brand Leadership and the Arthur W. Page Society, and is associate editor of the Journal of Business Communication and Corporate Reputation Review.
Sheldon earned her master’s degree from the University of Georgia’s
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in May 2006. Her thesis
is entitled, “Image Repair on the Political Front: An Experiment Testing
Effects of Communication Strategy and Performance History in a Political Faux
Pas.” Sheldon’s findings suggest that a politician’s
choice of communication strategy in a self-imposed crisis may have more impact
on the public’s reaction than his actual record or corrective action. Dr.
Lynne Sallot, associate professor, served as the thesis advisor. The
competition was judged by a distinguished panel of senior-level public relations
practitioners and academics.
Northwestern Mutual, long-time sponsor of the Best Master’s Thesis Award, is the nation’s largest direct provider of individual life insurance and has consistently been named the “Most Admired” company in itsindustry by a Fortunemagazine survey.
The Institute for Public Relations is an independent nonprofit dedicated to the science beneath the art of public relations. The organization exists to build and document the intellectual foundations of public relations, and to mainstream this knowledge by making it available and useful to practitioners, educators, researchers and client organizations.
