Waynesburg University’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) will hold its fourth annual PR Week celebration Monday, April 7, through Friday, April 11. This week-long event recognizes the hard work and dedication public relations majors show within the field of public relations throughout the academic year.

PR Week is comprised of high-profile guests who travel to Waynesburg University to speak about their personal wealth of experiences in public relations. Students also receive the opportunity to network and gain further insight into the industry.

The week will include an alumni and sports panel, a Mini Bateman Competition and a Communication Carnival. In addition to those events, four speakers will discuss PRSA National Board, blogging, healthcare public relations and marketing communications.

Geri Evans, MA, APR, PRSA Board Member
Evans is an experienced public relations professional, public speaker, presentation coach, writer, consultant, educator and business owner. As the president of the Evans PR Group, she has counseled clients extensively in the areas of message development, media training and presentation skills, among others. 

Cooper Munroe, Co-Founder of the Motherhood.com
The Motherhood is an award-winning web network. Munroe was recently named one of the top 10 “Power Moms” on the web by Parents Magazine. The Motherhood campaigns are known for being smart, original and creating huge impact on moms across the country.

Jaime Dray, Marketing and Communication Specialist for ARDEX Americas
Dray is an experienced and innovative public relations professional and an enthusiastic social and digital media specialist. With more than seven years of experience, she has worked for regional marketing agencies as well as national nonprofits and corporations. ARDEX is the world’s foremost manufacturer and distributor of premium floor installation products. 

Joy Eggleston, Senior Public Affairs Officer at Southwest Regional Medical Center
Eggleston serves as the Public Affairs Officer in the healthcare sector of public relations. She will bring a dynamic view to PR Week through speaking on behalf of healthcare in public relations.

Under the supervision of Richard Krause, chair of the Department of Communication and Chapter advisor, PR Week was founded and developed extensively to reward students for their year-long work ethic and to provide essential learning opportunities outside of the classroom setting. Krause originally designed the week with the help of students and now relies on them to assist in contacting and introducing speakers, coordinating facilities and performing evaluation measures.

“The programs are designed to give our current students knowledge of the public relations industry,” Krause said. “We have a very strong list of speakers and the range is intentionally diverse. The speakers will provide students with insight about agency, healthcare, corporate and energy fields of public relations.”

PRSSA would like to invite any Waynesburg University student, particularly those studying advertising, marketing and business, to participate in the week’s events. PR Week focuses on informing those who are interested in learning more about the field and networking with various professionals.

Waynesburg University’s PRSSA Chapter enhances the education of public relations students by advocating rigorous academic standards, creating valuable networking opportunities and enriching professional development within the field. As an affiliation with its parent chapter Public Relations Society of American (PRSA), the PRSSA chapter of Waynesburg University gains tools to support advocacy from the society and encourage individual leaders to adopt their own initiatives to support their communities.

For more information, contact Richard Krause at 724-852-3240 or by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Contact: Ashley Wise, Communication Specialist
724.852.7675 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Waynesburg University’s student newspaper, the Yellow Jacket, was recently named a regional winner in the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) annual awards contest for the Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper category. 

“The SPJ awards are the top of the line for student journalism contests, and this category is akin to a best in show award that judges the entire publication, so we are quite excited,” said Brandon Szuminsky, instructor of communication at Waynesburg University and faculty adviser to the Yellow Jacket. 

Nick Farrell, a senior communication (sports broadcasting/sports information) major and the executive editor of the Yellow Jacket, took home two regional awards for General News Reporting. The awards recognize his article on past Waynesburg University president A.B. Miller’s diary returning to campus and his series on the University’s student senate changes. 

“Having the piece on Miller's diary recognized was a gratifying experience for me, especially since I found out about the award a few weeks before President Lee's inauguration and at a time when the campus community is greatly in touch with its history,” Farrell said. 

Farrell enjoyed the opportunity to tell Lee about the Yellow Jacket award in person, in Lee’s office where the diary is kept. 

“The Yellow Jacket's role is to serve the campus community, and we have a history of exceeding that call to service that dates back to the early 1900s,” Farrell said. “To be recognized individually for my work is quite an honor, but I'm most pleased by the fact the entire staff has been recognized for its outstanding commitment to the weekly execution of reporting news factually and effectively.”

While the Yellow Jacket typically wins at least one award from SPJ each year, this is the first time it has won an SPJ Best All-Around award in nearly a decade. The Yellow Jacket won SPJ All-Around awards in both 2004 and 2005, a time when Szuminsky, then a student at Waynesburg University, was editor of the paper.

In April, the Yellow Jacket will learn how it placed in region four. First place winners move on to the national SPJ competition. Farrell, too, will learn how he placed among other young journalists from across the region. 

“No matter how the placing works out, we know that the preeminent journalism organization thinks the Jacket is one of the top three papers in this region,” said Szuminsky.

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Contact: Ashley Wise, Communication Specialist

724.852.7675 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Waynesburg University will host its fifth annual Sports Announcing Camp Monday, June 23, through Thursday, June 26, 2014, on the campus of Waynesburg University. Hosted by Lanny Frattare, assistant professor of communication at Waynesburg University and former voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the camp will afford high school students the opportunity to learn alongside well-known professionals in the field.

The camp will include various workshops throughout the week, where students will be given the opportunity to work hands-on in the field with past and present professionals in the sports announcing industry.

“As we prepare for the fifth annual sports announcing camp, I am proud of the commitment we have made to offering high school students an opportunity to experience what a career in sports broadcasting is all about,” Frattare said. “Our camp provides an excellent balance of theory, hands-on experience and fun.”

Camp teachers and mentors include:

• Lanny Frattare is known as one of the most recognizable personalities and voices in Pittsburgh and major league baseball. He spent 33 years as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates broadcast team, before joining the Waynesburg University teaching staff. His stay with the Pirates is the longest of any play-by-play announcer in team history.
• Rob King’s enthusiasm for sports was brought to Pittsburgh in 2000, where he now spends much of his time in the studio and at the games for Root Sports. Prior to his work with Root Sports, he spent five years in Syracuse, where he was the sports director at CBS affiliate WTVH and hosted a radio show on WHEN-AM.
• John Steigerwald, now an internet talk show host at www.tribweb.com and a Sunday columnist for the Observer-Reporter, served as a sports anchor with WTAE-TV from 1978 to 1985. He also worked for KDKA-TV as a sports anchor until 2007. His books, “Just Watch the Game” and “Just Watch the Game (Again),” have received great reviews and give a look into his 40-year history in Pittsburgh sports media.
• Paul Steigerwald has recently entered his seventh season as the play-by-play announcer for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Root Sports. He spent six seasons as the radio voice of the Penguins and the previous 14 seasons as the color commentator on Penguins TV and radio broadcasts. Steigerwald has worked in the industry since 1979 when his career started with the Johnstown Red Wings.

To register, call 1-800-225-7393 or visit sportsannouncingcamp.waynesburg.edu by April 30. Space is limited and participants will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

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Contact: Ashley Wise, Communication Specialist
724.852.7675 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Seven members of the Waynesburg University Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Chapter traveled to the PNC Park Hall of Fame Club in Pittsburgh, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 28, to work the 2014 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Pittsburgh Renaissance Awards. The annual ceremony celebrates the brightest stars and best work in Pittsburgh’s public relations community. 

The students arrived before the event began and assisted with set up, schedule review and prep work. During the ceremony, students managed the registration table, communicating with more than 180 public relations practitioners from the Pittsburgh area. Members were also responsible for handing out the awards to the winners. 

“Having the opportunity to help plan and execute the Renaissance Awards with our parent Chapter is invaluable,” said Molly Winters, junior public relations major and the president of Waynesburg University’s PRSSA Chapter. “It shows the professionals we look up to that we are extremely dedicated and are willing to go the extra mile to get that knowledgeable experience.”

This is the second consecutive year the Waynesburg Chapter sent members to work the event after establishing a professional relationship with Dan Ayer, president of PRSA Pittsburgh and co-chair of the 2014 Renaissance Awards, in the fall of 2012. 

“Multiple members of PRSA Pittsburgh have had the opportunity to work with Waynesburg University students in the past,” said Ayer. “When it came time to look for help with our biggest and most high profile event, it was a no-brainer to ask Waynesburg.”

Because of the great impression the students made on Ayer at last year’s event, he contacted Richard Krause, chairman of the Department of Communication and faculty adviser to the Waynesburg University PRSSA, in the fall of 2013 to not only ask if his students could help work the event again, but also for an intern to take control of the call for entries and online entry submission process for the award categories. 

Jordan Mitrik, a sophomore public relations major and historian of Waynesburg University’s PRSSA Chapter, worked alongside Ayer and his team prior to the ceremony. Mitrik managed the entry process, confirmed with the Pittsburgh agencies of their entries as well as categorized them into the appropriate award sections. Once completed, the work done by Mitrik was sent to PRSA Los Angeles to judge the entries and select the winners of the 2014 PRSA Renaissance Awards. 

“The students from Waynesburg University were essential to the success of the Renaissance Awards,” said Ayer. “By knowing that we had such a dedicated and capable group to help, the board was able to focus on making the event even stronger this year.”

Not only did the students work the event, but they also had the opportunity to network with working professionals in the public relations field. Winters said getting the chance to extend the Chapter’s skills and interact with Waynesburg PRSSA’s parent Chapter at the Renaissance Awards was very beneficial. 

“Working with our parent Chapter is extremely important to us, because the work we are doing as students is going to reflect how we act as professionals one day,” said Winters. “We strive to be like our parent Chapter professionals, so working alongside them is very beneficial to us.”

Chartered in 2010, the award-winning Waynesburg University Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America strives to prepare members for their future profession through experience, opportunity and achievement.

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Contact: Ashley Wise, Communication Specialist

724.852.7675 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

From Friday, Oct. 25, through Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, members of Waynesburg University’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) traveled to Philadelphia to participate in the 2013 PRSSA National Conference: Foundation for Innovation, hosted by Drexel University.

Brandon Szuminsky was named Instructor of Communication at Waynesburg University in August of 2013. He received his B.A. and M.B.A. from Waynesburg University. In the summer of 2013, he waspublished within an edited anthology marking the 75th anniversary of the iconic “War of the Worlds” broadcast. Szuminsky co-authored “Mediating Misinformation: Hoaxes and the Digital Turn,” one of the chapters within “War of the Worlds to Social Media: Mediated Communication in Times of Crisis.”

Kyle Oland, a senior public relations major from Westminster, Md., and Nick Farrell, a senior sports broadcasting major from Lower Burrell, Pa., took home the second and third place prizes, respectively, at the annual Gertrude Gordon Contest conducted by the Women's Press Club of Pittsburgh.

Waynesburg University’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Chapter celebrated the public relations field with a week long event Monday, April 15 through Thursday, April 18, 2013. PR week celebrates the study of public relations by offering professional presentations, networking opportunities and activities relevant to the communication field.

The Waynesburg University Yellow Jacket won a Region One Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for its in-depth reporting of the University’s announcement of Mr. Doug Lee as president elect. Six members of the Yellow Jacket staff attended the Region 1 Spring Conference Friday, April 12 through Saturday, April 13, 2013 to accept the award.

Molly Winters, a junior public relations major, and Brittany Semco, a junior public relations and design major, traveled to Albuquerque, N.M., to represent Waynesburg University at the 2013 Public Relations Student Society of America National Assembly Thursday, April 4 through Sunday, April 7, 2013.