Alexander Laskin, a doctoral student in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida, is the winner of the 2006 Ketchum Excellence in Public Relations Research Award. Sponsored by Ketchum and the Institute for Public Relations, the award includes a $2,500 study grant and a $7,500 eight-week internship in New York City.
Laskin’s research will focus on quantifying the contributions of investor relations to the bottom-line. “The field of investor relations is one of the most under-researched areas of modern public relations,” said Laskin.
David Rockland, Global Director of Research for the agency, said, “Ketchum sponsors the award each year to foster the development of new public relations research by our brightest young scholars.”
Laskin’s faculty advisor at the University of Florida is Dr. Juan-Carlos Molleda.
Laskin earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa Department of Communication Studies, and a Master of Science degree from Moscow State Pedagogical University Department of Geography. At Florida, Laskin is pursuing a Master of Arts in Business Administration in addition to a Ph.D. in Mass Communication. Professionally, he worked as director of investor relations for the Financial Company Petroleum Investment House in Russia.
All proposed research projects were judged for practical as well as theoretical value by a panel of distinguished researchers, educators and practitioners from the Commission on Public Relations Measurement & Evaluation. The commission was formed under the auspices of the Institute to establish standards for public relations research and measurement, and to issue authoritative best-practices white papers which are available free at instituteforpr.org.
