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NEWS RELEASE

09-30-02

Contacts:
John Eighmey, Journalism, (515) 294-0481
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917

IOWA STATE'S GREENLEE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM HONORS ALUM FOR GROUNDBREAKING WORK IN PUBLIC RELATIONS

AMES, Iowa -- James Grunig, an award-winning professor of public relations at the University of Maryland, College Park, will receive the James W. Schwartz Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism and Communication, the highest honor conferred by Iowa State University's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

Grunig, who received a bachelor's degree in agricultural journalism from Iowa State in 1964, will be presented the award at the Greenlee school's annual alumni homecoming reception, Saturday, Oct. 12. The reception is for ISU alumni, students, faculty and public relations professionals in the area.

"Jim Grunig's accomplishments transcend public relations theory and practice," said John Eighmey, chairman of the Greenlee School. "His theories, research and recommendations for the effective practice of public relations are admired and utilized by public relations scholars and practitioners on a world-wide basis."

A leading researcher of the relationship between communications and behavior, Grunig has developed a situational theory that accounts for why people communicate, when they are most likely to communicate and when communications are likely to have an impact. Grunig has conducted much of his research in partnership with his wife, Larissa Grunig, also a University of Maryland professor.

Grunig is the author of more than 150 articles, books and reports. He has won the Pathfinder Award for excellence in public relations research of the U.S. Institute of Public Relations; the Outstanding Educator Award of the Public Relations Society of America; and the Jackson, Jackson and Wagner Award for behavioral science research.

In 2000, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the largest U.S. association of journalism and mass communication educators and researchers, awarded Grunig its most prestigious lifetime award, the Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research. Grunig holds doctorate and master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

James Schwartz, the retired Iowa State journalism chairman, will present the award to Grunig. The Schwartz award has been presented since 1977 to leaders in journalism and related fields. They include four Pulitzer Prize winners, distinguished broadcast journalists, authors, advertising and public relations executives, newspaper and magazine publishers, and leading writers in a variety of specialty areas.

Previous Schwartz Award winners include: Hugh Sidey, Time magazine columnist; Robert Bartley, Wall Street Journal editor; Roy Reiman, magazine publisher; Terry Anderson, AP Middle East bureau chief; William Ames, historian and educator; Donald Arends, advertising executive; Geneva Overholser, Des Moines Register editor; Jack Shelley, broadcaster and educator; Kevin and Mollie Cooney, anchors and reporters, KCCI-TV; Ann Cooper, National Public Radio correspondent; Merrill Oster, international agri-business communicator; and Christopher Adams, Wall Street Journal investigative reporter.

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