Newhouse School of Communications

Maria Russell
Professor, PR; Director, ISDP Communications Management
Public_Relations
Communications

Office: Newhouse 3 Rm. 314A
Telephone: (315) 443-3368
Email: mprussel@syr.edu

Maria P. Russell joined the full-time public relations faculty of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications in September 1986 after more than 16 years of professional public relations practice. She previously served twice as Chair of the School's Public Relations Department: 1990-92 and 1994-2002. In 1995 she created The Newhouse School's interdisciplinary, limited/residency distance learning program for mid-career public relations professionals, leading to a master's degree in Communications Management. She serves as director of that program, which attracts professionals from all over the world, and in 2007 this initiative will be replicated in Canada through a partnership with McMcaster University’s DeGroote School of Business.

Russell's professional accomplishments have brought her numerous national communications awards and recognition from United Way of America; the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE); the Chamber of Commerce of the United States; and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). In 1992, she was inducted into PRSA's College of Fellows, and was named PRSA's 1997 "Educator of the Year." In 1998 she was elected to a two-year term on PRSA's National Board of Directors, served as Secretary for 2001, and 2004 Treasurer of the 22,000-member professional society. In 1999 she was selected for membership in The Arthur W. Page Society.

Professor Russell is a co-author of a book on the media coverage of the bombing of Pan Am 103, in which her specific work dealt with the role and performance of public relations practitioners during the crisis. She has been invited to speak on crisis, crisis management and crisis communications in professional venues around the world.

Russell is active in numerous professional activities. From 2000 to 2003, she chaired PRSA’s Task Force on Professional Development and was instrumental in leading PRSA to expanded and enhanced offerings for its members and to the introduction of e-learning. She convened the first-of- its-kind "Summit on Life-Long Learning in Public Relations" bringing together more than 12 professional and academic organizations interested in furthering the profession through education, and currently is serving her third term as a member of the Commission on Public Relations Education. She was a long-time member of the faculty for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Organization Management and for Motorola University. Her consulting clients include several major United States companies and public relations firms, and she has developed a professional development program for multinational corporate communications executives in Brazil.

She is a member of the board of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama and the Program Development Advisory Board for Conestoga College, Ontario, Canada. In Syracuse, she serves on the board of directors of The Central New York Community Foundation, and is active in United Way committees. She is a commissioner of Onondaga County’s Board of Ethics.

Updated April 2007

Expertise:

• Crisis Communications
• Media Relations
• Public Relations Management