Company

Title

Address 1

Address 2

City, State, Zip

Work Telephone Work E-Mail

What is your organization? (e.g., public relations agency, solo practitioner/counselor, corporation, association, university, etc.)

PRSA District

PRSA Chapter Membership(s) (Dates, Chapter Name)

PRSA Section Membership(s) (Dates, Section Name)

Date Joined PRSA

THE PUBLIC RELATIONS SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2014 CANDIDATE APPLICATION FORM

Director Positions

ABSOLUTE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2014, 5 P.M. (in the time zone in which the candidate resides)

When you submit your application electronically, you will receive an automated e-mail confirmation within the hour. If you do not receive this automated e-mail it is your responsibility to contact PRSA

at nomcomm@prsa.org or 212-460-1403 to confirm receipt of your application.

Note that this application will be posted on the PRSA website with the exception of the information contained in Sections D (“Legal, Regulatory and Other Matters”) and E ("Candidate Contact Information"). It is the candidate's responsibility to ensure that all information submitted in this application - such as dates, awards, etc. is true and accurate. Candidates are urged to proofread their applications carefully as changes and corrections are not permitted after the applications are posted on the PRSA website nor are corrections made by PRSA staff. All information must be typed. Please submit the application electronically for posting on the PRSA website.

PRSA Designation

Middle InitialFirst NameLast Name

(APR, Fellow PRSA)

Lancaster Central School District

Director of Communications

177 Central Avenue

Lancaster, NY 14086

716-686-3214 pburgio@lancasterschools.org

K-12 School District

Northeast

2007-present Buffalo Niagara Chapter

2007

APR

MPatriciaBurgio

Section A: PRSA Activity Record. Please fill in the date of service, name of Chapter/District/ Committee/Task Force, etc., as well as leadership position(s) held. Contact PRSA Headquarters for assistance if you are unsure about certain dates of service.

(Example: 2000-2001 - New York Chapter - President)

PRSA Fellow (Year Inducted)

Chapter Officer/Board and other Leadership Positions

National Section Chair/Officer

District Officer

National Committee/ Task Force/Advisory Board Chair/Co-Chair/ Member

Voting Assembly Delegate

National Board Officer/Member

Other

Local (Chapter/District) Committee/Task Force Chair

As set forth in Article V, Section 2 of the PRSA Bylaws, to be eligible to serve as director individuals must be APR, must be a member of PRSA in good standing, and also have at least one of the following qualifications: (1) held a leadership role within the Society, including but not limited to, served as a member of a Chapter, District, or Section board of directors, chaired a national or local committee or task force, or served as a National PRSA Assembly delegate; or (2) served as a public relations professional for 20 or more years, with increasing levels of responsibility.

Please indicate the year in which you attained APR accreditation September 2007

Accreditation panelist; guest presenter at chapter accreditation preparation sessions.

Section B: Professional Background1. State the professional positions you have held in the field of public relations (with dates) listing the most recent first.

Director of Communications, Lancaster Central School District, 177 Central Avenue, Lancaster, NY 14086 10/8/92-present

2. Have there been any instances in which you advanced the state of the profession through exceptional contributions to the field of public relations? If yes, please list example(s).

On behalf of school public relations professionals, I have served many leadership roles both locally, and at the state and national levels: President, Western New York School Public Relations Association 1995-97; member, 1992-present. Executive Board, New York School Public Relations Association, 1995-2006, secretary, 1997-99; annual publication contest coordinator, 1997-99; president 2002-04; National School Public Relations Association Higher Education Committe (2007-2008) Served as judge for several sister-chapters of NSPRA during their annual awards contests Presentations to the following groups: National School Public Relations Association, New York School Public Relations Association, New York State School Boards Association, Western New York School Public Relations Association, Western New York Educational Service Council, Genesee Valley Professional School Communicators, Erie Niagara School Superintendents, Erie County Association of School Boards, Western New York School Business Officials Planned/presided over the following meetings and conferences: 2002 New York School Public Relations Association Spring Conference, Canandaigua, NY; 2002 New York School Public Relations Association Leadership Summit, Albany, NY; 2002 New York School Public Relations Association Awards Luncheon, Syracuse, NY; 2003 New York School Public Relations Association Awards Luncheon, Rochester, NY Contributor: Panel discussion on creating a graduate-level course in School Community Relations for the Buffalo State College Educational Administration and Supervision program (1997) Guest lecturer: "Media Relations for School District Leaders," Canisius College Graduate School - School Personnel Administrative Certification Program (2007) Adjunct Professor: St. Bonaventure University, Journalism/Mass Communications 420, Public Relations Campaigns (spring 2010) Mentor in School-Community Relations to Lancaster School District administrative certification candidate (2003) Mentor in public relations, social media, digital communications to student interns from St. Bonaventure University and the Lancaster High School Academy of Finance--a nationally recognized Academy of Distinction; 2013 intern received award and scholarship for 'best internship experience.'

3. List pro bono public service activities conducted during your career.

Public relations counsel and support for: YMCA of Lancaster (NY), member, Board of Managers (2007-2013) Chair, YMCA 'Strong Kids Campaign' (2008-2009) Lancaster Depew Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (2007-present); Lancaster Educational and Alumni Foundation; founding advisory board member (2010-present) Member, public relations subcommittee of Erie County Association of School Boards Task Force on Regional Collaboration and Shared Services (past) Merit badge counselor--Cover all curriculum in merit badge guides, mentor boy scouts through successful completion of merit badge projects for Communication, Journalism, and Public Speaking merit badges; devise and deliver instructional content that is age- appropraite, relevant, and engaging (2008)

4. List Awards (local, regional, national, career or personal) that you have received. Include date, name of award and awarding organization.

National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) - Golden Achievement Awards (in recognition of exemplary public relations activity) 2000 - Family Support Center PR Campaign 2001 - Volunteer Recognition Program 2007 - Substance Abuse Prevention Program Communications Plan 2013 - Bullyproof Partnership - Day of Kindness Campaign 2009 NSPRA Award of Excellence (Best in Category) Excellence in Writing Leadership Stipend to attend National School Public Relations Association Annual Conference (San Diego, 2002; Denver, 2003) From 1997 to present numerous NSPRA awards for excellence in writing, graphic design, branding, and various publication types including internal and external newsletters, website NSPRA Frontrunner Award for 'outstanding contributions to school public relations on the local, state, and national level' 2003 New York School Public Relations Association (NYSPRA) From 1997-present numerous merit, honor, and excellence awards for publications and public relations campaigns; awards in the categories of writing, graphic design, photography, and for various internal and external publication types and websites APEX Awards for Publication Excellence 2005 Grand Award (one of only two in the nation in this category) Non-Profit Small Office Newsletter From 2002 to present numerious APEX Awards for Publication Excellence in writing, graphic design, electronic media, and various other publication types

5. List educational background (degrees and certifications). Include institutions, degrees/certifications and dates.

St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, NY 14778; Bachelor of Arts Degree, Mass Communication (May 1990) St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, NY 14778; Master of Arts Degree, Integrated Marketing Communications (December 2007) Accreditation, PRSA (September 2007) Board Governance Project for Women - 8 week certification program sponsored by the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County and the Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network (2008) Strategic Planning Facilitation - through the International Strategic Planning Center for Education, The Cambridge Group, American Association of School Administrators (2000)

6. List those credentials you believe qualify you for the position you're seeking.

I am a seasoned, national award-winning public relations professional who has been a speaker and panelist at local, state, and national workshops on community-building initiatives, promoting stakeholder involvement, and crisis communications. My primary expertise is in public education, but I also have experience in the medical and broadcasting fields. My experience encompasses all phases of professional communication: internal and external, crisis communication, strategic planning, media relations, evaluation, primary and secondary research, design and creative strategies, writing and editing, and social media. As a full-time working mother of two pre-teens, I simultaneously pursued my master's degree in Integrated Marketing Communications and professional accreditation (APR), so I am well-versed in the nuances of multi-tasking and juggling multiple priorities. Obtaining my masters and accreditation while being the family's primary breadwinner, and my employer's only professional communicator, was a phenomenal challenge. It served to reinforce my dedication to my craft, and underscored the value I place on professional development and seeking my 'best self' in what I do as a communicator. My children are now grown and in college and I would like to take on a new challenge that will not only enhance my professional networking and self-actualization opportunities, but also afford me the platform to give back to the profession that has been my passion throughout my life. I am seeking the role of PRSA regional director to have a means to mentor up-and-coming professionals and to promote the value of the accreditation credential.

Please insert a brief biographical profile (400 words or less). Please provide a recent full color photo of yourself in a separate JPEG attachment (minimum of 300 dpi @ 4x6 inches). Your photo should be a current, professional-quality headshot, suitable for publication.

Image FieldA mother of two college-aged boys, I have lived in Western New York (Buffalo/Niagara region) most of my life. I have always had a passion for writing and never dreamed I could make such a rewarding career at it as I have had at the Lancaster Central School District for the last 22 years. No two days are ever the same, but I can honestly say, most days I go home assured that I have lived out my personal mission, which is "to make the most of my life and make a difference in the lives of others."!!!During the last 22 years I have been here, we have weathered our share of storms, as well as achieving great successes. As a professional communicator, I have endured the challenges of Columbine and every other school shooting, 9/11, as well as a local teen's suicide that captivated the national media and brought sexual-orientation bullying to the national consciousness. These are just a few of the types of public relations challenges we, as school communicators, deal with on a regular basis.!!Ironically, most people would consider school public relations a 'cushy job' but we manage to do more on sometimes!non-existent budgets, with little or no additional staff, than most agencies or corporate PR departments would dream of. You see, when it comes to people's children, and taxpayers' money, little is more near and dear to their hearts.!!!They say 'all news is local,' so when I say we have dealt with every school shooting, and school violence, it has been a significant public relations challenge. When I say that we dealt with 9/11--many of my education friends who live in the NYC area lost loved ones in the attacks. As a group of professional colleagues, we helped them deal with how they would help their students cope with the loss of parents or other loved ones, oftentimes while grieving themselves.!!We have worked together to change the environment in schools to eradicate bullying. A campaign I organized for my school district was honored this year with a Golden Achievement Award from the National School Public Relations Association. I can proudly say we are able to measure that we are affecting positive change with our efforts in this community.!!!When we sit down at our weekly planning meetings and the occasional reference to salary negotiations comes up, my boss shakes his head and asks me why I do it--I could probably double my salary by going to the private sector. My answer is plain and simple. I have built a career in this community in which I can see time, and time again, where my efforts on behalf of my school district have changed lives, made our community stronger, and enhanced the reputation of our school district. In terms of reward--it doesn't get much better than that!

Section C: Authorization

1. Please consider me a candidate for the position(s) checked below for which I meet the criteria:

Director, East Central District (two year term)Director, Mid-Atlantic District (two year term)Director, Northeast District (two year term)

Director, Tri-State District (two year term)

I have received and read the duties and responsibilities of the position checked above and will agree to expend the time and money required to serve if I am nominated by the Committee and elected by the Leadership Assembly on October 11, 2014.

SignatureDate

(Signature required. If you do not have an electronic signature, please write your name on a separate piece of paper and e-mail, fax or mail a hard copy to the Nominating Committee, PRSA, 33 Maiden Lane, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10038. Fax: 212-460-5900. E-mail nomcomm@prsa.org. PRSA staff will insert it in your application.

Director, Western District (two year term)Director-at-Large (two year term)

If you are requesting to be considered for a District Director position, would you also be willing to serve in an At-Large Director position if asked to do so by the Nominating Committee? Yes

No

6/17/14

Position Statement: Part I Please provide succinct answers that address each position statement precisely. Please provide examples, data and other details that support your statement, specifically using your leadership experience from PRSA or from other boards. Limit your responses to 350-500 words.

The PRSA Board of Directors is made up of people representing diverse groups within PRSA and in society at large, yet the level of diversity within the industry has a long road yet to travel. As a member of the PRSA board how would you contribute to the board's and the Society's efforts to realize a measureable increase in a more diverse membership.

These are incredible times in the lives of professional communicators. Never have there been so many challenges--but challenges always provide us with great opportunity. I see the door to diveristy in our profession being opened by social media. Social media has provided the means and access to communication for the most diverse possible array of communicators. Our challenge as seasoned professionals, and as a professional association, is to harness the opportunity of social media and make it our own. Social media has provided the opportunity for unprecedented growth in the field of professional communications and public relations. Along with that, organizations no longer interact in silo-type environments where various departments responsible for brand reputation did not interact well. Integrated communications, often led by public relations professionals, are redefining the role of the professional communicator and creating opportunties that were not even envisioned 10 years ago. By promoting our association to up-and-coming communicators, there is the opportunity for greater diversity due to the nature of enhanced access to mass communications in general. It becomes our job, as an association, to establish goals for outreach to harness the potential of the best and brightest of all possible candidates to become the new breed of leaders in our field. The measurable goals to increase diversity among membership could include, but not be limited to 1) increasing PRSSA chapter membership visibility at colleges and universities that represent a diverse population; 2) leverage existing PRSA diversity efforts to include scholarship and grant opportunties that provide for enhanced professional development for Public Relations professionals and students of diverse backgrounds; 3) create additional and promote existing leadership opportunities within the organization to members of all social strata. While I have not attached a specific metric to each of these items, they certainly could be established based upon the association's existing baseline numbers. As an association with international reach, the growth in diversity of our organization can only make it stronger and provide a more robust experience for all members. As a member of the board of directors, I would support all measures on the 'long road' to diversity and seek to do whatever I could to expedite the mission.

Position Statement: Part II Please provide succinct answers that address each position statement precisely. Please provide examples, data and other details that support your statement, specifically using your leadership experience from PRSA or from other boards. Limit your responses to 350-500 words.

As part of the organization's overall mission, PRSA seeks to foster more accurate and better-informed perceptions of the value and role of public relations. Given the increase in social media channels in the world today and the growing proportion of social media functions as part of a PR professional's responsibilities, what strategic skills would you bring to the PRSA board that will help the organization fulfill this important mission?As a 'department of one' with a half-time assistant, my role as a public relations professional takes on all aspects of communications from message strategy to publication writing, editing, and graphic design to media relations, crisis communications, research and evaluation, and all of the traditional roles that one, or several persons hold within a corporate or not-for-profit PR department. With the advent of social media, none of those responsibilities were taken away, only added to. Initially, I called upon all of my professional skills of persuasion to convince a reluctant board of education and administration that in order for 'social media' to be truly 'social' it needed to be interactive and two-way and we had to allow commenting on our Facebook page. This was a large hurdle to overcome, but I am proud to say that since the very first day, with our very first friend, we have grown to more than 2000 friends who enjoy the interactive environment of dialogue and discussion that we have created with our social media presence. After testing the waters with Facebook, I and my superintendent broke ground with Twitter accounts, one for the district and one for him. Both accounts have gained steady followings and I am proud to say that we are among the trailblazers of school districts in our region--the first to allow commenting, the first on Twitter. Additionally, our website has an 'app' that we promoted heavily at the beginning of this year that has begun to gain significant traction with students as well as parents. We still have miles to go, but in a one-person office handling all aspects of communication, there is only so much an individual can do. Already, a great deal of off-duty time is spent monitoring the existing social media accounts. That is not to say we are finished. Quite the contrary. We are working on training and empowering teachers, departments, and extracurricular activities and teams to Tweet, as well and exploring other social media venues to add into the mix. My superintendent (CEO) and I have regularly-scheduled Friday morning planning meetings and one of our favorite topics is the growth in social media and how best to leverage it for our communications needs. One of the challenges we face is that not only are we wholeheartedly 'out there' in the social media realm, but the local news media and some detractors are also very engaged in this way as well. Adding more to an already full plate has proved to be a balancing act, but I would never go back. Social media has become such an integrated part of our tool kit I can't imagine not having it at this point. As a member of the board, I would lend my enthusiastic and wholehearted support to anyone who is just getting their feet wet in the social media arena and share all of the knowledge and expertise I have gained about it since being a student of its inception (during my graduate studies in 2006-07) through where we are today and where we are headed in the future. I couldn't be more excited about being a professional communicator than I am at this stage and a large part of that excitement and enthusiasm is as the result of social media.

Section D: Legal, regulatory or other matters that might reflect adversely on the profession or the SocietyAre you currently aware of any prior or pending business, legal, regulatory or other matter involving yourself that may arise during your prospective term of office that might reflect adversely on the profession or the Society? If yes, please provide details. Any information you provide will only be seen by the Nominating Committee, and will not be divulged to any other member of PRSA, staff member of PRSA or the public. No

Yes Please provide details

Section E: Candidate contact information Contact information is for PRSA Nominating Committee use only and will not be posted on the PRSA website. (We request your number in order to reach you for one of two reasons: 1) if the Nominating Committee has questions following your interview during its deliberations or 2) to notify you of the Nominating Committee's decision.)

Address

City, State, Zip

Home Telephone

Cell Phone

E-Mail

Primary Contact Information

Secondary Contact Information (if different)

Address

City, State, Zip

Home Telephone

Cell Phone

E-Mail

89 Steinfeldt Road

Lancaster, NY 14086

716-913-1871

716-913-1871

pburgio@verizon.net

Candidate Attestation

I attest that, to the best of my knowledge, the information contained in this application is true and accurate and contains no significant omissions. I understand that the details of the deliberations and votes about any specific candidate or office in the PRSA nominating process are confidential, and I pledge to maintain that confidentiality. I acknowledge that submitting an application with inaccuracies or omissions, revealing confidential information known by me, or repeating confidential information provided by others, is a breach of the PRSA Member Code of Ethics. In addition, I acknowledge that if such a breach occurs, the Nominating Committee may refuse to consider my candidacy.

Date

(Signature required. If you do not have an electronic signature, please write your name on a separate piece of paper and e-mail, fax or mail a hard copy to the Nominating Committee, PRSA, 33 Maiden Lane, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10038. Fax: 212-460-5900. E-mail nomcomm@prsa.org. PRSA staff will insert it in your application.

Signature

6/1714

PLEASE SCROLL UP TO FIRST PAGE OF THIS FORM TO SUBMIT THE COMPLETED APPLICATION FORM to nomcomm@prsa.org

DEADLINE IS TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2014 AT 5:00 P.M. (In the time zone in which the candidate resides)

When you submit your application electronically, you will receive an automated e-mail confirmation within the hour.

If you do not receive this automated e-mail, it is your responsibility to contact PRSA at nomcomm@prsa.org

or 212-460-1403 to confirm receipt of your application.

The application form is complete and ready to submit.

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