The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) honored Samford with its Star Chapter Award at its national conference in November.

Each year, the award recognizes approximately 10 percent of chapters nationally that meet comprehensive programming, community outreach, scholarship and national governance participation goals.

The honor came after a rigorous application process begun in 2014 by alumna Michaela Ressor ’15, then president of Samford’s PRSSA chapter. Asia Burns, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major from Alpharetta, Georgia, and the only chapter officer returning this year, was on-hand when the award was announced. When Burns heard Samford’s name called in the second round of awards, she wondered for a moment if the announcer had meant to say “Stanford.” Samford’s chapter is relatively small, and this was its first application for the award. There was no mistake, though. Samford earned the honor in its first attempt.

“The Samford PRSSA chapter is active, and strives to offer a well-rounded and informative professional experience for its members, and this award attests to that,” journalism and mass communication professor and chapter adviser Betsy Emmons said.

The PRSSA is the foremost organization for students interested in public relations and communication, with more than 11,000 students and advisers organized into 300-plus chapters in the United States, Argentina, Colombia and Peru.

Aly Hathcock is a journalism and mass communication major and a news and feature writer in the Office of Marketing and Communication.