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12-02-09
PR News' 2009 Hall of Fame Inductees
Larry Parnell, Associate Professor and Program Director, George Washington University Master's in Strategic PR
This week PR News inducted 6 recipients into their 2009 PR Hall of Fame. One of the honorees was Larry Parnell.
Larry Parnell's career represents a communications trifecta, with his past and present roles spanning agency, corporate and academic sectors. Currently the program director of George Washington University's Master's in Strategic PR—a position he has held since June 2008—he brings his real-world experience to PR education, incorporating case studies, guest lecturers and mock presentations into the curriculum.
Making students' experience in the classroom as realistic as possible is critical given the rapidly evolving nature of communications. "[In the span of my career,] we have gone from typewriters to distributing news via PDAs, from press conferences to Webcasts and tweets, from one-to-many communications to one-to-one," Parnell says. "All that has really changed is the pace and means of distributing your message. What hasn't changed is the importance of developing a strategic message, identifying your key audiences and getting your position across to protect or enhance your client/organization's reputation."
These lessons are ones he learned over time, drawing from his past experiences at everywhere from MS&L and Ketchum to Ernst & Young. Most rewarding, though, is his ability to give back to the industry by teaching the individuals who will ultimately shape its future.
"Communications will become even more dramatic, critical and strategic," he says. "The key is to take advantage of the opportunity the market is giving us today, and to not overreach—to just deliver results."
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