Story by Sara Szatmary '08

Curtin was nominated for this prestigious award by Jessalynn Strauss, a SOJC doctoral student. Strauss met Curtin at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where Curtin served as Strauss’ masters thesis adviser. Strauss nominated Curtin for her accomplishments in public relations theory and literature as well as her “humor and complete lack of pretentiousness.”

Strauss expressed her gratitude for Curtin saying, “As a graduate student, I realize often how lucky I am to have a mentor and adviser like Pat.”

The AEJMC is a non-profit, educational association of journalism and mass communication faculty, administrators, students and media professionals. It is dedicated to promoting the highest standards for education by providing resources for news, research and career opportunities.

According to the AEJMC website, the Distinguished Educator Award is given annually to a Mass Communication and Society member whose teaching excellence and influence in the field is profound.

When Curtin heard that she was receiving this honor she said she was “quite honestly, speechless. It means quite a bit to me that this award comes from student nominations. I'm being recognized because people I mentored believe I deserve the award. That's very gratifying.”

Curtin’s public relations career spans thirteen years of corporate work and running her own firm. She is a former head of the Public Relations Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and now serves on its Standing Committee on Research. She serves on the editorial boards of two major public relations journals and is a contributor to Newspaper Research Journal, Journal of Public Relations and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.

Curtin recently joined the SOJC after ten years as a faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she directed the doctoral program and won the school’s David Brinkley Teaching Award and the Provost’s Public Service Award.

In her short time at the University of Oregon Curtin has served as the PR chair, the faculty advisor for PRSSA and taught numerous upper-division journalism courses. She currently serves on nine committees in the SOJC, three in the University and is the chair of two.

Tim Gleason, SOJC Dean, says, “Since arriving at the SOJC as our Chair in Public Relations, Pat has been a leading advocate for our public relations program and for our doctoral program. She has established herself as a leader in the school and on campus while continuing to grow her already substantial international reputation. “

In addition to excellence in teaching, Curtin is also interested in research, primarily agenda building and critical approaches to public relations theory. She is coauthor of International Public Relations: Negotiating Culture, Identity, and Power, a book outlining a theoretical basis and practice matrix for international public relations practice.

Curtin’s research has proven to be groundbreaking. Tiffany Derville, a SOJC assistant professor, says, “In addition to being an outstanding teacher, Dr. Curtin has published insightful research to help other educators. Along with Dr. Maier, Dr. Curtin applied self-efficacy theory to create an instructional model, which resulted in closing the math performance gap between her students who were comfortable with numbers and those who had high math anxiety."

In addition to being honored at the Mass Communication and Society business meeting at the AEJMC convention in Chicago, Curtin will also make a formal presentation on her teaching philosophy and how it has changed during the division’s annual Promising Professor’s Workshop and Breakfast.

On the topic of her teaching philosophy Curtin said, “I don't believe [it] has really changed. I have always thought that I learn at least as much from my students as they do from me, that if you treat students with respect they will treat you with respect, and that students will rise to incredible challenges if you give them a supportive atmosphere.”