Orange County Professional Earns Accreditation in Public Relations

IRVINE, Calif.  (December 29, 2011) - Aimee Reece, public relations specialist with Kawasaki Motors Corp., USA, has successfully completed the Examination for Accreditation in Public Relations, entitling her to use the APR professional designation. The announcement was made by the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB), a consortium of nine professional communication organizations that directs this competency certification program.

The Accreditation program aims to improve the practice of public relations by assessing competence in 60 areas of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) associated with the profession. The Examination is designed for public relations professionals with five to seven years of job experience and/or a bachelor’s degree in a communication field. Candidates who successfully complete the rigorous process, including presenting a portfolio to a Readiness Review panel of three peers and sitting for a computer-based Examination, are granted the APR.

Orange County public relations professionals interested in pursuing their Accreditation in Public Relations can sign up for study sessions beginning January 12, 2012. Learn more at www.ocprsa.org.

“Earning the APR reflects a mastery of the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to succeed in our increasingly complex profession,” said John E. Forde, APR, Fellow PRSA, 2011 co-chair of the Universal Accreditation Board. “Practitioners who achieve the designation are demonstrating their commitment not only to our profession, but also to a strong code of ethics and to the betterment of their organizations and clients.”

Ms. Reece holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in Canada and is working toward achieving a Masters of Art in Integrated Marketing and Communications from National University. She has been employed at Kawasaki’s corporate headquarters in Irvine since 2006 and resides in Oceanside, Calif.

About the Universal Accreditation Board
The UAB was established in 1998 by a coalition of public relations professional organizations that today includes the Agricultural Relations Council, Asociación de Relacionistas Profesionales de Puerto Rico, Florida Public Relations Association, Maine Public Relations Council, National School Public Relations Association, Public Relations Society of America, Religion Communicators Council, Southern Public Relations Federation and Texas Public Relations Association. Each organization contributes resources and senior-level volunteer members who represent all segments of the public relations profession. For more information about the UAB and the APR designation, visit www.praccreditation.org.

About OC/PRSA
Chartered in 1963, OC/PRSA serves and educates public relations practitioners of Orange County, Calif. Monthly lunch meetings provide chapter members an opportunity to exchange ideas with other public relations professionals and hear speakers on a wide variety of topics related to the communications field. Each winter, the OC/PRSA chapter offers a Readiness Review session for those interested in preparing for the APR exam. More info can be found at: http://www.ocprsa.org/programs-apr.

About the Public Relations Society of America
With more than 31,000 members, PRSA is the largest organization of public relations professionals and students. PRSA is comprised of 111 local Chapters organized into 10 geographic Districts; 16 Professional Interest Sections that focus on issues, trends and research relevant to specialized practice areas, such as technology, health care, financial communications, entertainment and sports, and travel tourism; and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), which has more than 300 Chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. PRSA is headquartered in New York.