CRITICAL MOMENTS, MAJOR MOVEMENTS AND PIVITOL PEOPLE ADVANCING THE PROFESSION
Betsy Plank, APR, Fellow PRSA; J. Carroll Bateman, APR (center); and Scott Cutlip, APR, Fellow PRSA, are considered pioneers in the field of public relations education.
H. Frazier Moore, a PR professor at the University of Georgia and then-president of the PR Division of the Association for Education in Journalism, created the Commission in 1973. PRSA quickly became a joint sponsor with the support of then-PRSA President Betsy Plank, who served on the Commission at its inception and championed its work for decades. J. Carroll Bateman, APR, a legendary PR professional, and Scott Cutlip, APR, Fellow PRSA, a pioneer of PR education, identified an essential problem in a seminal 1975 Commission report: the PR field was populated by too many self-taught, old-style publicists. “The need for qualified, competent, professional assistance in this field was never greater than it is today,” they wrote. The report outlined a PR curriculum for undergrad and master’s students, described the “ideal faculty” as a blend of educators and practitioners and urged a greater commitment to PR research. The Commission took on that charge, and over the years further defined the essential elements of a quality PR education. Almost five decades after the founding of the Commission, the “Creed for Public Relations” espoused by Bateman continues to ring true: “I believe that sound public relations comprises policies and deeds as well as words; that it should deal in truth rather than deception; and that it should seek to clarify the issues of our times rather than to confuse them.”
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