Dr. Marlene Neill Named Senior Research Fellow on Ethics Training Research Through the Arthur W. Page Center

Marlene Neill, Ph.D, APR, Fellow PRSA has been named one of seven senior research fellows through the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Neill will lead a research call on Ethics Training in Public Relations, Journalism, Advertising, and Strategic Communications. As a senior research fellow, Dr. Neill will conduct her own research over ethics training and help choose proposals that will receive approval for funding.

The research senior fellowship includes a four-year grant to conduct critical research on awareness and understanding different types of ethics training programs offered to industry professionals, identify weaknesses and gaps in ethics training, highlight new ethical issues trainings should address, and recommend ways industry leaders can successfully implement effective training in ethics.

The Page Center announced three new research calls for the 2024 Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grant competition. The other two calls will accept proposals on Expanding Theory for Integrity in Public Communication and research projects involving Scholar/Practitioner Collaborations.

Each year, The Page Center announces research calls through the Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar grants. Grants are awarded through the name of Arthur W. Page and Robert Wood Johnson, who were pioneers of ethical and social responsibility in the fields of corporate and medical public relations and communications. Through their devout leadership at AT&T and Johnson & Johnson respectively, Page and Johnson laid the foundation of ethical behaviors and policy used in today's industry.

“I believe this research project will identify some critical needs related to ethics training,” Dr. Neill said. “Prior research has shown that a significant number of students are graduating with journalism and communication degrees without ever completing an ethics course. And employers often are not providing routine professional development training programs focused on ethics leaving these new professionals ill prepared to address ethical issues they will inevitably face. At the same time, new ethical challenges are emerging, especially in the context of new technology tools. I am confident that the Page Center Legacy Scholars will generate new insights into the ethical issues journalists as well as advertising and public relations professionals are facing today so that we can address these gaps.”

This announcement comes in the wake of Dr. Neill being named the recipient of the 2023 Teaching Excellence Award of the Media Ethics Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, or AEJMC. Earlier this year, Dr. Neill was appointed to the Board of Advisors for the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama.

To find out full information about the grant, each research call, and deadlines, please visit The Page Center’s website at: https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/page-center/grants/legacy-scholar-grants/guidelines-for-grant-applications

View the news release here: https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/page-center/article/page-center-announces-three-research-calls-targeting-ethics-education-pract