Written by Chelsea Stern ’22
Maria Russell, a professor in the Public Relations department and an experienced professional in the communications field, shares the story of how she ended up teaching at Newhouse.
Throughout her early childhood, Russell had had an interest in reading and writing. “People who knew me from childhood said none of my pictures as a child have me with a doll in my arms,” she said, “It’s always with a book or a pad and pen.”
That passion showed in high school when Russell got involved with the newspaper and devoted herself to the school’s journalism department. She was advised to pursue writing, and she did.
Russell studied English Literature in her undergraduate years at The College of St. Rose in Albany, NY, writing for the college’s newspaper and helping shift the paper into a more professional style of journalistic writing.
At St. Rose, she took on a work-study position in the PR Department and interned for the New York State Legislature where she wrote news releases and constituent letters.
She took on a few newspaper jobs upon graduation before deciding to apply to Newhouse as a graduate student, where she would formally study newspaper and journalism.
After Newhouse, where she took the only two PR courses offered at the time, she accepted a position at the University as a researcher and writer for an 18-month-long project, funded by what was previously known as the Department of Health Education and Welfare at Syracuse University.
Throughout the years she worked as a writer at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the Director of Community Relations at the Syracuse location of United Way, and the VP of Communications at Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce.
During this time, she also took a brief break from the office setting and managed clients from home, but this career change was short-lived because she missed being surrounded by other people.
Six years later, Dr. William Ehling, a former Chair of the Public Relations Department at Newhouse, introduced Russell to a career in academia and asked her to teach a PR course as an adjunct professor. Russell taught PR management, a class that is now better known as PRL 497.
Though hesitant to go into teaching at first, Russell has come a long way since and been a full-time faculty member of the Public Relations Department for the past 33 years. From an avid writer to a PR professor, Russell said that the biggest reward of working in academia with a professional background is “seeing really good students get really good jobs.”
“Be passionate, be inquisitive, be curious, and take risks,” Russell hopes for all of these things in her students. “Think about teaching down the road,” she said. She never pictured herself teaching when she put pen to paper as a child, but look where she is now.
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