Welcome!

Welcome to the 2010 Marist College Red Foxes PRSSA Leadership Forum. Building on the success of our inaugural leadership forum in 2009, this year’s leadership forum will focus on the “The Gender Gap: A Leadership Perspective.” The forum will consist of five days of interactive discussion, from Monday, Nov. 15, to Friday, Nov. 19. Discussion among invited guests, academic leaders, scholars, practitioners, and students will examine from scholarly and professional perspectives how gender influences pay, opportunities for promotion, work-life balance, and other aspects of the public relations profession.

The concept of this forum exemplifies the mission of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), which calls our chapter "to serve our members by enhancing their knowledge of public relations and providing access to professional development opportunities" and "to serve the public relations profession by helping to develop highly qualified, well-prepared professionals." The abilities to lead and manage leadership communication are vital traits of successful professionals. Hence, this online leadership forum among Marist College PRSSA members and experienced leaders is designed to promote a deeper understanding of ways that leadership can help members achieve PRSSA's mission and develop into communication professionals.

Please visit our chapter's main blog and go to our "Annual Leadership Archive" page to read the history behind this event. Before entering the discussion, please read the guidelines, schedule, readings and resources, and background on invited leaders by clicking the respective pages along the navigation bar at the top of this page.

We will begin our discussion on Monday morning, Nov. 19. Look for a welcome post from our forum moderator, Chapter President Sabrina Clark. Once Sabrina kicks off the forum with her post, we invite everyone else to publish a post to introduce themselves and share their thoughts about the discussion question and topic for that day. You may also follow up with comments to selected posts, which will help us establish and maintain an interactive dialog. We will begin Tuesday, Nov. 20, with a new discussion question for that day's topic. Again, follow up with your own posts and comments. We will continue this process through Friday, Nov. 19, when we will summarize our thoughts and share lessons learned from the discussion.

If you have questions, please contact our Chapter President Sabrina Clark or Faculty Advisor Dr. Mark A. Van Dyke.

Thank you to our featured leaders and to all participants who have taken time out of your busy schedules to join our forum. We once again welcome you to the discussion and we offer our best wishes for a successful, thought-provoking event.

Sincerely,

Mark