DePaul University’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Chapter won an award from the PRSSA for a regional event it co-hosted with Valparaiso University.

The DePaul and Valparaiso PRSSA Chapters received the Dr. Frederick H. Teahan Chapter Award for Outstanding Regional Activity at the 2009 PRSSA National Conference in San Diego in November. Key organizers were Brittany Briscoe, DePaul PRSSA past president, and Mackenna Schon, Valparaiso PRSSA past president. 

Called “Taste of Chicago PR” and held at DePaul’s Loop campus in February 2009, the event began with keynote speaker Cheryl Procter-Rogers, vice president of Public Relations and Communications at DePaul and former national PRSA president. The remainder of the day consisted of professional development sessions led by top Chicago-area communications professionals, a professional panel that represented various facets of the public relations industry, and a public relations job/internship fair. The event was attended by nearly 130 students from 20 PRSSA chapters in the Midwest, including Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa and Wisconsin. DePaul was selected from a number of colleges and universities to host the regional activity.

“It was such an honor to receive a Dr. Frederick Teahan Chapter Award for Outstanding Regional Activity,” said Alyssa Bronikowski, current DePaul PRSSA president. “Our chapter, along with Valparaiso’s, worked very hard planning and designing this regional activity. We feel it was a success, and the event truly provided pre-professional PR development in downtown Chicago.”

DePaul PRSSA faculty advisor Daniel Azzaro said, “The award demonstrates the commitment and caliber of our students and public relations program in the College of Communication that this group could put together such a well-attended and award-winning event.”

Meanwhile, the DePaul PRSSA chapter is gearing up for its next event, “Chicago PR: Get in the Loop,” slated for Feb. 11 and 12, 2010. Registration is now open to undergraduate PRSSA members and will be open to all undergraduate students Jan. 2 to 15. For more information, follow @getintheloopchi on Twitter or e-mail getintheloopchi@gmail.com.

With more than 9,600 members in 284 universities across the nation, PRSSA aims to cultivate a favorable and mutually advantageous relationship between students and professional public relations practitioners.

DePaul’s College of Communication is the third-largest provider of bachelor’s degrees in communication in Illinois and the second-largest provider of master’s degrees in communication. It offers undergraduate programs in communication studies, journalism, media and cinema studies, public relations and advertising, and communication and media. Graduate programs include journalism, media and cinema studies, public relations and advertising, and organizational and multicultural communication.