The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Chapter received the 2023 Star Chapter Award from PRSSA National for its excellence in programming and service. The award is considered the gold standard for college-level chapters striving to achieve excellence.
Throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, UNL PRSSA members showed their commitment to the highest chapter and campus leadership standards. In January 2023, for example, they started working with Domesti-PUPS for their semester service project.
Domesti-PUPS is a Lincoln-based nonprofit that provides therapy dogs, service dogs for persons with disabilities and obedience-trained rescue dogs. The PRSSA team worked with Domesti-PUPS to plan and promote their largest fundraiser of the year, the "I Love My Dog Expo."
Members developed and executed a plan to reach a new audience of potential volunteers and event attendees. In addition to volunteering at the "I Love My Dog Expo," they invited the CoJMC and UNL communities to join them and use their photography and social media talents to help capture the event.
“Last year we set our goal to rebuild internally and externally and regain our star chapter status,” UNL PRSSA president Valeria Uribe said. “Our chapter leaders and members put in so much time and effort to help us reach our goals and I’m thrilled to have our efforts recognized.”
The award requires chapters to meet at least eight of 11 requirements, including community service work, positive media exposure and dedicating at least one club meeting to an ethical topic. Sydney Wagner, who graduated this past May, served as UNL PRSSA president for 2022-23 and led the chapter to this national honor.
This is the sixth year UNL's PRSSA chapter has received the Star Chapter Award and the first year they've received the honor under the chapter's faculty advisor, Dave Remund, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA.
“In addition to earning Star Chapter status, paid membership within the UNL PRSSA has tripled during the past year,” Remund said. “All credit goes to the student leaders and members. They are dedicated to advancing the chapter and profession, and with their collaboration and enthusiasm, they are truly making a difference.”
The UNL PRSSA Club is always open to new members and will resume its monthly meeting schedule in the fall 2023 semester. For more information, follow their Instagram here, sign up to receive their newsletter or email the leadership team at prssa@unl.edu.