News Releases

24 Public-Sector Communicators Graduate from TCU’s Certified Public Communicator® Program

CONTACT: Jacqueline Lambiase, j.lambiase@tcu.edu

FORT WORTH, Texas (August 14, 2024) – This summer, 24 public-sector communicators from across the nation graduated from Texas Christian University’s Certified Public Communicator® Program. Each participant in Cohort 11 successfully completed an intensive 95-hour curriculum and developed customized strategic communication plans tailored to their respective organizations.

For the past 12 years, the CPC program has welcomed communicators from cities, counties, school districts, and other public-sector entities to engage in a comprehensive week of lectures, simulations, and networking activities. The two-summer program fosters a collaborative environment where both faculty and students can share knowledge and experiences.

“The CPC program at TCU does what the best professional training programs do,” said recent graduate Sally Jackson of Chatham County, Georgia. “It teaches critical skills, it requires real-life applications, and at the same time it organizes the subject knowledge that we as working professionals already have. It bonds us into a fraternity and support network that encourages and assists each other and that also raises the bar for everyone by exposing us to excellence and innovation.”

Public-sector communicators play a vital role in fostering transparent, informative, and engaging interactions between public institutions and the communities they serve. The CPC program strengthens the effectiveness, substance, and timeliness of these interactions by providing students with both theory-based and real-world examples, said Dr. Ashley English, a long-time faculty member in the program and an associate professor in TCU’s Department of Strategic Communication.

“The Certified Public Communicator Program embodies fully embodies TCU’s teacher-scholar model, which I love,” English said. “This program gives our faculty the opportunity to showcase their research efforts while teaching professional communicators how to build more strategy into the important work they do to engage with residents, businesses, teachers, parents, and students.”

The role of public communicators has never been more critical, English said. Effective and strategic communication is essential for motivating the public to identify and address society’s pressing issues.

“As we grapple with complex issues across the country related to education, sustainability, climate change, housing, transportation, and more, there’s an urgent need to engage the public in identifying and implementing effective solutions,” English said. “Our current context draws attention to the essential ways that effective and strategic communication can connect, educate, and facilitate collaborations that improve our collective quality of life. Communicators are connectors, and we are so fortunate to work with professionals through our CPC program to improve connections across communities.”

CPC board members and faculty members congratulate each member of Cohort 11, who now join the ranks of more than 270 CPC graduates, said program director Jacqueline Lambiase. This year, the program started using a new application process for summer 2025’s Cohort 13, because demand for the program has been high, with more than 40 people on the waitlist for summer 2024’s Cohort 12.

The CPC program partnership includes TCU’s Department of Strategic Communication in the Bob Schieffer College of Communication and TCU Extended Education, as well as four professional organizations: the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers, the National Association of County Information Officers, the Texas School Public Relations Association and the City-County Communication and Marketing Association.

Summer 2024 graduates

23 professionals graduate from TCU’s Certified Public Communicator^® Program

CONTACT: Jacqueline Lambiase, j.lambiase@tcu.edu, 817-257-6552

FORT WORTH, Texas (August 7, 2023) — Twenty-three professionals from across Texas and the nation graduated this summer from the Certified Public Communicator® Program at TCU. Not only did these public-sector communicators finish 95 hours of graduate-level instruction, but all of them created customized communication plans for their organizations.

The CPC program has been working for more than 11 years with communicators from cities, counties, school districts and other public-sector agencies.

“Many public-sector professionals have some graduate-level certification opportunities, and it made sense that the communication role should, too,” said Jacqueline Lambiase, Ph.D., professor and director for the CPC program.

With this in mind, TCU and the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers co-founded the program at TCU in 2013, which, to date, has awarded 245 certifications to communication professionals hailing from organizations in 15 states.

“One of the hallmarks of the program is its focus on listening,” Lambiase said, “because through research at TCU we have learned that listening is a key to trust. So that means communicators can’t be only telling stories and creating content in social media about their organizations. They also need to adapt to the role of listener for their organizations, too, and think about the inbound channels as much or more than outbound. This will elevate their role within their professional space, with a goal of making their organizations better.”

Communication is an essential function following a natural disaster or other major emergencies, and public information officers must provide both accurate and timely information to residents during times of crisis to ensure public safety. Lambiase and other communication professors at TCU combined their public relations, advertising and marketing expertise to launch the residential program, where professionals get to network, engage in a year-long process of professional communication planning, and learn from one another.

“The Schieffer College of Communication teaches excellence in engagement with publics,” Lambiase said. “We infuse the curriculum with experiential learning and discussion, helping students build plans based on theory, case studies, metrics and their own research.”

The CPC program partnership includes TCU’s Department of Strategic Communication in the Schieffer College and TCU Extended Education, as well as four professional organizations: the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers, the National Association of County Information Officers, the Texas School Public Relations Association and the City-County Communication and Marketing Association.

Summer 2023 graduates