News

Sept. 27, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact information:
Maddie McGarvey
(513) 504-4033
mmcgarvey@bsu.edu

Kelli Parsons to be Ball State 2015 Schranz speaker

MUNCIE, Ind. Chief Communications Officer for New York Life Kelli Parsons
will be speaking at the 37th annual Vernon C. Schranz Lecture. Parsons will speak on
Wednesday, December 2 at 8:00 p.m. in the Ball State Student Center Ballroom.
In conjunction with the lectureship, the Mary Schranz Public Relations
Scholarship will be presented to Tori Banser on December 2. As a junior public relations
major at Ball State, Banser is receiving the award based on her campus involvement in
both the Public Relations Student Society of America and Cardinal Communications, a
student-run public relations agency.
Distinguished in communications, public relations and marketing management,
speaker Kelli Parsons has lead New York Life as Chief Corporate Communications and
Marketing Officer since November of 2014. Parsons graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in
Journalism and Political Science from Murray State University and completed her
graduate education in Journalism at Northwestern University.
Prior to New York Life, Parsons was Chief Communications Officer for Federal
National Mortgage Association and lead what PR Week magazine called the 2014 Team
of the Year. Previously, Parsons worked in communications and marketing for Warburg
Pincus LLC and was Executive Vice President for Hill & Knowlton Ltd, a global public
relations firm.
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Maddie McGarvey
Swingleys Format
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Parsons is an elected trustee for the Arthur W. Page Society, a professional
membership organization for communication leaders. She is also on the Communications
Advisory Council for the College of Chaleston and was a trustee of the Foundation board
of directors at Murray State University.
Being the first of its kind, this public relations lectureship has brought national
leadership to Ball States campus. This forum allows for practitioners, faculty and
students to express new thoughts and ideas in a professional setting.
As the first public relations director for the Ball Corporation, Vernon C. Schranz
was passionate about the field and educating those interested in it. Through the gift of
stock in Ball Corporation, Schranz was able to create an undergraduate public relations
scholarship at Ball State. Naming it after his wife, the Mary Schranz Public Relations
Scholarship is what Tori Banser will receive at the event.
The Schranz lecture is part of Ball States Department of Journalisms Fall 2015
Professional in Residence series. The PIR presentations are free and open to the public,
made possible by donations from generous Ball State Alumni. For more information, visit
http://cms.bsu.edu/academics/collegesanddepartments/journalism/alumniandfriends/schra
nz-lecture-series.
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The nationally accredited journalism department of Ball State University offers degrees
in journalism with options in graphics, magazine, news-editorial, photojournalism and secondary
education, as well as degrees in advertising and public relations. The department provides classes
and programming for more than a 1,000 undergraduate majors and graduate students, who study
journalism, public relations or sport communication.