Awards & Scholarships

The Plank Center encourages students to advance your education in public relations by searching and applying for scholarships.

The Plank Center Summit Scholarship

The Plank Center Summit is an annual event held in Chicago. The purpose of the Summit is to help students, educators and professionals gain a deeper understanding of the professional and learn best practices within the field. It offers a unique opportunity for students to gain professional insights and to see, hear from and network with successful professionals and their peers. The scholarship includes roundtrip air travel (or other transportation) to/from their home areas to Chicago, one night’s stay (Oct. 25) at the Union League Club, one ticket to the Gala and one ticket to The Plank Summit, totaling an estimated $1,500.

Public Relations Student Society of American (PRSSA)

  • Betsy Plank/PRSSA Scholarship
    • The Betsy Plank Scholarship was created in 2001. Three scholarships are given annually to promote student leadership.
  • Ron Culp Scholarship for Mentorship
    • The Ron Culp Scholarship was created in 2011. This unique $1,000 scholarship is designed to honor a student entering his or her senior year at a four-year accredited institution for their mentoring of others and their promotion of public relations as a career choice. This scholarship is made possible by the PRSA Foundation.

Felton PR Scholarships

The John W. Felton Public Relations Endowed Scholarship fund was created in 2001 through a gift from Betsy Plank. Through the fund, two scholarships are given annually to promote the education of students pursuing degrees in public relations at The University of Alabama.

Top Student Paper Awards

To help support and recognize student leadership in public relations research, The Plank Center provides cash awards to the top student research papers in the PR Divisions of AEJMCICA, and NCA.