Betsy Plank
Betsy Plank, "the first lady of public relations," has left her legacy to the profession and to public relations education.
She was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and graduated from high school at age 16. After her 1944 graduation from the University of Alabama, she worked at a Pittsburgh radio station before entering public relations in 1947. She moved to Chicago and took a job with the public relations agency Daniel Edelman founded in 1952. During her two decades with Edelman, she opened the agency's first European offices in Paris. In 1965, she returned to Alabama to join the final leg of the Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery. She moved from agency to corporate public relations and was the first woman to head a division at Illinois Bell. From 1973 to 1990, she held executive positions in public relations planning and external affairs at both Illinois Bell and AT&T.
She participated in the movement to found PRSSA during the 1967 National Conference in Philadelphia. When she served as the first female president of PRSA in 1973, she made PRSSA self-governing because of her abiding faith in the wisdom and ability of students. For the next four decades, she always preferred to stay at "the children's hotel" where PRSSA convened. As 1981-83 advisor to the PRSSA National Committee, she co-founded Friends of PRSSA (now Champions for PRSSA). She co-chaired the 1987 Commission on Public Relations Education which led to the 1989 founding of Certification in Education for Public Relations (CEPR). She served on five CEPR site visit teams, and she was a member of PRSA Educational Affairs until her death. The Betsy Plank/PRSSA Scholarships program is named in her honor. She was also an active member of the Public Relations Division of AEJMC.
She was a founding member of the PRSA College of Fellows. She was the first person to receive all of PRSA's top awards, including the Gold Anvil (1977) for lifetime achievement in public relations and the Lund Award (1989) for civic and community service, and she was the first recipient (2001) of the Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service to PRSA. She was the first woman elected by readers of Public Relations News as Professional of the Year (1979), and that publication named her one of the World's 40 Outstanding Public Relations Leaders in 1984. She received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arthur W. Page Society in 2000, and she was the first Page Society Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in 2002. Also in 2002, she was the first woman to receive from the Institute for Public Relations the Alexander Hamilton Award, named in honor of the nation's founding father who persuaded 13 diverse colonies to put aside differences and accept the Constitution.
In 2005, she established the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama. The Center's mission is to develop research, scholarships and forums that advance the ethical practice of public relations. All of her papers will be housed at the Plank Center.
She chaired the Illinois Council on Economic Education and the Citizenship Council of Metropolitan Chicago, and she was a past president of the United Christian Community Services, a coalition of nine community agencies. She served on the boards of United Way, Girl Scouts of Chicago and Girl Scouts USA. She twice chaired annual Leadership Luncheons of the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, and she was a founder of The Chicago Network, an organization for career women.
She and her husband, Sherman Rosenfield, an industrial film producer and editor, bought a teakwood powerboat that they christened "The Yearling" in recognition of their first wedding anniversary. From its slip on Lake Michigan, Betsy enjoyed for the rest of her life feeding the ducks from the deck of The Yearling. Also important to Betsy and Sherm was their beloved yellow kitty, Cinderella, and their vacation retreat in Michigan.
Internment will be private at her request. At its July board meeting, the Plank Center will join with the Chicago public relations community to celebrate Betsy's contributions to the profession. PRSA also will recognize Betsy at this year's International Conference, October 17-19 in Washington, D.C.
Memorial donations may be made to the Plank Center, University of Alabama, P.O. Box 870172, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0172, or at www.ua.edu/advancement/giving/donate/ (designate Plank Fund). Donations may also be made payable to the PRSA Foundation for the Betsy Plank Endowment, 33 Maiden Lane, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10038.
Tributes and memorials may be found at the following sites:
PRSA Tactics –
http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/Tactics/Articles/view/8474/
101/In_memoriam_Betsy_Plank_APR_Fellow_PRSA_86
Chicago Tribune –
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-05-25/features/ct-met-0526-plank-obit-20100525_1_public-relations-student-society-first-female-president-plank
Culpwrit.com blog –
www.culpwrit.com/2010/05/.../remembering-pr-legend-betsy-plank/
New York Times –
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?
n=betsy-plank&pid=143130315
The Chicago Network – http://www.thechicagonetwork.org/?page=PlankB