Fisher Faculty, Staff Recognized by Local PR Organization

Several members of the St. John Fisher College community were honored during the 2021 PRism Awards, hosted by the Rochester Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Fisher’s Office of Marketing and Communications team won a PRism Award in the website category for its Class of 2020 Commencement celebration website. When the pandemic forced Fisher to cancel its traditional Commencement ceremony, the College took it virtual with the Class of 2020 Celebration website. The interactive platform celebrated the Class of 2020 with video messages, slideshows that took graduates down memory lane, a listing of the graduates with Latin praise, and more.

Arien Rozelle, an assistant professor in the Department of Media and Communication, also earned a PRism Award for her work with Black Button Distilling and their pivot from producing whiskey to helping meet the need for hand sanitizer in the wake of COVID-19. The campaign won in the Corporate Reputation/Brand Management program category.

The awards program, held on Wednesday, July 21, celebrate the best in public relations among Rochester-based practitioners and recognize complete public relations programs and tactical elements incorporating sound research, planning, execution, and evaluation.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Fisher’s marketing team has earned awards from the professional organization. PRism entries are judged by industry professionals from another PRSA chapter and are given annually.

At the ceremony, Rozelle and Melissa Greco Lopes, assistant director of marketing and communications, were also recognized for earning their Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) in 2020. Rozelle and Greco Lopes were among only 135 individuals in the country to earn the APR designation during the pandemic.