This national award, considered to be the “gold standard” for excellence by the Public Relations Student Society of America, recognizes the chapter’s outstanding work in programming and relationship opportunities.

The student organization was named Outstanding Chapter and Chapter of the Year, plus won awards for Chapter Campaign, Community Service and Chapter Website, nine Medallion Awards, and awards of Excellence and Merit.

Jacquelyn Shaia, J.D., Ph.D., director of UAB’s Public Relations curriculum, is faculty advisor for the nationally recognized PRCA/PRSSA student chapter.

The national Dr. F.H.

Mercer, 21, of Spanish Fort, Alabama, also won the Miss Congeniality and Talent awards, winning $2,600 in scholarships.

This marks the sixth year in a row that the UAB chapter has been accorded this honor.

Studying abroad as a Gilman Scholar helps students gain professional skills, build language proficiencies and develop knowledgeable perspectives of the world to help them succeed in their careers.

The UAB Excellence in Business Top 25 program, presented by the UAB National Alumni Society, each year recognizes the fastest-growing and most successful businesses owned or managed by UAB graduates.

Awards and honors continue for the PRCA/PRSSA at UAB chapter, where students put their classroom learning into real-world practice, preparing them for careers and vaulting them into the professional world.

UAB Media Studies students learn how to make documentary films focusing on communities and issues they care about in a semester.