about PR on the run — by Rob Jewell

I’ve been fortunate. I worked for 29 years at BFGoodrich in Akron, Ohio. I started editing employee publications and ended as vice president of corporate communications. Then I started a public relations consulting company. Now I am a full-time faculty member at Kent State University. I teach courses in public relations and mass communication ethics. And I supervise a student-run public firm, called Flash Communications.

During most of this time I’ve been a dedicated runner. OK, jogger, if you take speed into consideration. But while my times are not much to write about, I am committed. For the past 20 years or so I’ve run at least 1,000 miles each year. (Except for one year seven or eight years ago when I tore my calf muscle playing tennis. So much for tennis.)

Being on the road most mornings at 5 a.m. gives you some time to think. I’ve used that time through the years to consider various public relations projects and look for solutions to problems that I believed were important at the time. PR on the run works for me.

And just so you don’t think that all I do is work and run, I have other interests as well, many centering on family.

My wife, Mary, teaches in the Akron public schools.

My son, Brian, teaches in a charter school in Colorado Springs.

And my daughter, Jessica, teaches English and creative writing at a college in Georgia. I’ve done a lot of writing during my career — but Jessica is the real writer in the family. I’ll try not to make too many errors in this blog. I’m sure she’ll be watching.