Betsy Plank

"Extending the Spirit of Arthur Page to Those Who Will Follow"

More than you realize, I am honored by this recognition - most especially because it comes from the company of distinguished colleagues. For me, it's an act of amazing grace, and bless you for it.

Were I more prudent and wise, I might leave the lectern now - having expressed that deep appreciation. But since I claim neither of those virtues - and it's too late to begin acquiring them now - I'm going to take this privilege to say some things which have been looking for a home a long, long, time.

The first relates to Arthur W. Page.

This award, which you have established in our millennium year, has his fingerprints all over it. He was, of course, a giant in the practice of public relations. His career with AT&T gave us a legacy and standards which continue to light our way even as the topography of our work expands and becomes more thorny and complex. But there are other dimensions to the man which inspire and which we seldom cite.

As much as he contributed to business and to public relations, some of his greatest contributions - those which defined the personal man and his character - were in service to the profession-at-large and to the public well-being.

As his brief biography in the Society's directory tells us, he was counsel to U.S. Presidents and their Cabinets, and made major contributions to the Marshall Plan and Radio Free Europe. But one senses that there were other corners to his personal history as well. And whenever I seek to know more about Mr. Page, I confess that I call one of his most ardent disciples, Jack Koten, and he never disappoints. In his recent litany of the interests and philanthropy of Arthur W. Page were several new to my ears - perhaps to yours, too.

He contributed to establishing the interstate highway system and the rapid transit system for the New York/New Jersey areas. His interests also ranged from Maine's Cold Spring Harbor Biological Association to the Carnegie Foundation and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to improving life for Appalachian farmers and serving as Overseer of his alma mater, Harvard University.

The North Carolinian was a lifetime champion for the improvement of education for African-Americans. His motivation, he once stated, was that African-Americans were the only people who had not come to this country of their own free will. He had other impulses in education, too. When he learned that his sons had graduated from Harvard without ever having had a single course in American history, he created the university's Center for the Study of the History of Liberty in North America. The Center subsequently published 30 volumes on the subject - and this aging history major hopes the Page boys were required to read every one! Somewhat curiously, he also strongly supported a college for girls in Istanbul. His motivation for that isn't clear - but surely it, too, was an impulse in good cause!

That brief testimony to his broad, eclectic interests and philanthropy and service - far beyond the corporate desk - tells us that this remarkable man personified the word "Citizen" in its most classic sense.

I am persuaded that such interests beyond the desk are part of the character of our best public relations professionals - certainly those of you in this room. While few of us counsel U.S. Presidents and Cabinets, scarcely a civic or community or professional cause survives or thrives without the strong volunteer had of the likes of you.

I've often speculated on why that is. Because we are inherently movers-and-shakers? Because we never saw a problem we could resist? Because we have a congenital urge to make connections everywhere? Perhaps it's simply because the conviction that our clients have a larger social responsibility spills over to our personal lives and philosophy.

Back in the 60's - When I was young and thin - a veteran public relations colleague said to me, "There ought to be a retirement home exclusively for public relations people. Without clients to worry about, we could change the world!"

While most of us aren't aspiring to homes for retirement and some of us are already flunking the course, addressing the problems which populate our words - both professionally and in the community-at-large - seem to be etched in the job description of public relations people. And in the busy-ness of today's client demands and crises, I hope those other responsibilities and motivations do not suffer nor diminish. For if they should, those world would also be diminished, and, indeed, so would we.

Given the inspiration of Mr. Page and the opportunity of this day, I want to say something about a problem that affects us collectively - as a profession. Those of you who know me well - mentors such as Jack Koten and Dan Edelman and such frequent co-conspirators as Jack Felton and Pat Jackson - have tolerated many special enthusiasms of mine, so I suspect that the subject ahead will come as no surprise to them.

Most surely the primary passion of my later professional life has become education for public relations. It's a contagious condition - and many of you share it, too. It's one I caught 25 years ago from tow titans named Scott Cutlip and Carroll Bateman. They convened a small handful of us in a seedy suite in some best-forgotten Manhattan hotel as the first Commission of Public Relations Education.

Thanks to Don Wright's thoughtful alert, my letter to Scott last month reached him in time. It recalled that we had debated and discussed endlessly and finally sucked out of our thumbs of collective experience and biases the guidelines for and under-graduate curriculum. (As many of you appreciate, arguing with Scott was always a memorable experience!)

The two subsequent commissions have been much larger and more representative and have employed extensive research - thanks to the likes of educators such as Don Stacks - and have met in more respectable venues as well! The undergraduate curriculum guidelines have grown to include public relations writing, case studies, campaigns, research, supervised internships, ethics and law, with recommended minor in business.

Our professors today are dedicated and smart. More and more have earned doctorates, do extensive writing and research. Many also have strong experience in the practice. The market has grown, too. There are now more than 220 colleges and universities offering substantial programs of undergraduate study in public relations.

Most of them are housed in either Journalism/Mass Communication or, increasingly, in Speech Communication, whose interests are rooted in persuasion and interpersonal communication. Today, majors in public relations far exceed those in traditional journalism and vie, in numbers, with advertising majors. Our students are bright, motivated, buttoned-down, enthusiastic, creative, and - unlike many of us at their age - already committed to lifetime careers in public relations.

O miraculous act of wonder and faith - they actually want to follow in our footsteps! On a dreary day of product recalls and consumer lawsuits, downsizings and restructurings, that's a welcome, warm -and-fuzzy thought to hug!

But it also infers some obligations.

Yes, our students do have strong in-kind support from many professions. For example:

Many are speakers in classrooms and seminars and conferences. Many offer paid internships in their organizations - and internships often lead to entry-level jobs. Many provide counsel to students and host them at agencies and departments.

A few - Edelman Worldwide and AT&T among them - support national scholarships. Others - such as Fleishman-Hillard and Ketchum and Golin-Harris - sponsor conference events for students and educators.

Last evening over dinner, Professor Maria Russell was praising GE's corporate communications training program for our entry-level graduates and reported that Lockheed Martin is considering a similar program.

Some professionals are part-time instructors and, indeed, several - after leaving the corporate and agency scene - are taking places as faculty members and loving it, aren't you, Professors Felton and Adam?

So yes, in the broad brush-strokes of that brief status report, it's apparent that education for public relations is improving, growing, flourishing, that the partnership between academia and the practice is stronger, that the graduates are better educated, better prepared to hit the turf running, to begin strong, productive careers and to become an even better new generation of professionals.

Overall, a remarkable and promising picture. So what clouds it?

Just this: The overwhelming majority of out 200-plus undergraduate programs are severely under-funded by their colleges and departments. Why? Three reasons come to mind quickly. One is the pervasive cutback in funding higher education. Second, in many cases, academic politics plays a role as well. Our programs are often accountable to deans and chairs whose budgeting practices and loyalties lie with other disciplines - journalism, for example. As a result, our students are short-changed. They do not get their equitable share of faculty nor does the faculty-in-place get adequate resources for their programs.

Now the third reason. I've searched my vocabulary for a politic, diplomatic way of saying this, but despite all those honest efforts, the most straightforward way of expressing it is simply this: As a profession and as responsible professionals, in giving financial support to programs of public relations study, we're doing a rotten job.

In that financial arena, we're far outclassed by journalism alumni, by journalism associations and enterprises. Our record lags even advertising and broadcasting.

A year ago, our educators were asked to tell us what kinds of financial support our firms and professionals were giving to their programs. Several - not enough by far - reported scholarships. A mere handful reported endowed professor-ships. Only one - just one, mind you - reported an endowed chair in public relations. (There's a rumor that there's one other out there someplace, but we haven't yet found it.)

Surely, we can do better than that. Surely we should. Surely we must.

One of the reasons we've fallen short is obvious: Today, most of the people who have the means to make significant personal contributions or the positions to influence such contributions by their companies are not graduates of public relations programs. I wasn't. Were you?

I'm ashamed to confess that not until a year ago did I discover that my own alma mater has a strong program in public relations studies. Unfortunately, it came long after my time on campus. However, age is no excuse, and I've now made some tardy financial amends.

If you haven't looked recently at your own alma mater to see if it offers a public relations major, I commend that exploration to you. If it doesn't have one of those 200-plus programs, then consider adopting one of your choices - perhaps in your community, area or state or perhaps one represented here by educator members of this Society.

Make one of those the recipient of your annual year-end contributions. And yes, give it a place in your will or trust.

Finally, use your considerable influence to persuade your company to earmark a contribution to a university or college for its public relations program of study. Just this year, Padilla Speer Beardsley endowed an annual $5,000 public relations scholarship at the University of Minnesota. It honors the late David J. Speer - and our colleague John Beardsley's fine hand is apparent in that decision and gift. Larry Foster is now endowing a second position with Penn State's Communication College - this one is pioneering role called Communications Librarian.

Public relations education needs and deserves more such responsible angels. I see a roomful of potential wings out there and it's a beautiful sight!

I doubt that you anticipated such a heavenly invitation as this professional meeting and I appreciate your letting me proposition you. But I believe that Arthur W. Page - who believed so much in public relations and its future - would have approved.

Again, thank you for this exceptional honor you've bestowed today. For me, it is a treasure of a lifetime. God bless.