About the author

Professional:  I’m a senior public relations consultant and am accredited through PRSA; hold a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oregon, and hold a master’s in Communications Management from Syracuse University.  For seven years, I taught classes in public relations for Marylhurst University just outside Portland, Oregon, and simultaneously online classes for three years for the University of Montana in Missoula. I work with private clients and manage some outside business opportunities.  I served on PRSA’s national board of directors from 2008 to 2009, after many years of working for PRSA at the state and district levels, and was inducted into PRSA’s College of Fellows in 2006. In 2014, the Portland Metro Chapter of PRSA honored me with the William W. Marsh Lifetime Achievement Award.  I’ve had the privilege of writing the 2017 PRSA Career Guide with the help of a dedicated team of national and local professionals, and continue to serve both the Oregon and Montana Chapters of PRSA.

 

Personal:  My two  children are grown and married, and between them have five children. I’ve learned the joy is no less the second time around!

I enjoy my time in Yachats the Oregon Coast, and still make it up to Glacier National Park in Montana about once a year.

Thanks in no small part to a long-ago trip on Semester at Sea,  Missoula’s wonderful International Choral Festival and a visit to see my son and daughter-in-law when they served a stint in Korea for the Air Force, I’ve traveled to 24 countries, and love international cultural exchanges. In 2011 I took a trip to Australia to visit an old friend about an hour north of Sydney, and topped it off with a tour through the Sydney Opera House just before flying home.

I’m a voracious reader; love theater and music, hiking, swimming and travel.  Hanging out with my grandsons is always high on my list of priorities.

The photo below is one I took from the Blue Mountain Trails south of town, look back north and east at the Missoula Valley.  I’m posting it by way of explaining at least part of Missoula’s siren song; leaving the state a few years ago was no easy task, and I feel fortunate to have many reasons to go back.

Fortunately, Oregon is every bit as beautiful as I had always remembered, and frequent trips to the coast are now a special delight.  A favorite photo of the Lighthouse Keeper’s House and the Haceta Head Lighthouse is below right.

Looking back at the Missoula Valley from the Blue Mountain trails just south of town.

 

Haceeta Head, Central Oregon Coast.