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June 5: Mayer Mall Dedication June 7: Pirates of Penzance Performing Arts Scholarship Benefit June 11: 5th Annual Engineering Alumni and Faculty Golf Outing and Banquet June 12: Terps Take Manhattan June 24: Baltimore Regional Alumni Event |
Join the university as we celebrate the dedication of the William E. and Kathy Mayer Mall just outside of the Smith Business School. To RSVP and learn more, contact Tina Murphy at 301.405.3467 or |
 Helping Students Reach for the StarsPioneer Prepares a New Generation in Crisis Communications
With his business ranked among the top 40 privately held public relations firms in the country, Levick is passionate about his work and is also committed to developing future leaders in this area. With a gift of $50,000, he created the Levick Crisis Communication Scholarship, which is awarded each year to an upper class student with an interest in this field. Elizabeth Toth, chair of the Department of Communication, says the scholarship means “less stress for students financially. Levick has built the knowledge in this field and wants to prepare future public relations practitioners for this very sophisticated specialization.” The 2008 recipient of the Levick Crisis Communications Scholarship, Jorge Sanz-Fuertes, developed an interest in this area after taking a class in crisis communications. “This award constitutes the first step in achieving my career goal of working in strategic communications,” says Sanz-Fuertes, a communications major who will graduate this summer. Levick employs more than 50 interns a year, placing them in practice groups to work with junior and senior staff to gain first-hand experience. He is less interested in grades and more interested in whether a potential employee has an “abundance mentality.” These are people who believe, “the more excellence you put out there, the more you will be rewarded, even if you’re not instantly rewarded.”
While an urban studies major at Maryland, Levick says that he didn’t have a clue about a career field. Before graduating, however, he had racked up 30 credits in internships, mostly in political science. “I thought it was so important to get real life experiences,” says Levick, who started his career in politics while completing a master’s degree in environmental advocacy communications at the University of Michigan followed by a law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law. But he soon discovered communications was the common thread linking his interests. Considering that we live in an era of “new media, transparency and globalization,” says Levick, “there is an extraordinary need for crisis communications skills, which require not just public relations expertise, but a thorough understanding of government relations, Wall Street, international relations and business." Levick explores these issues and more in a book he co-authored, Stop the Presses: The Crisis and Litigation PR Desk Reference, now in its second edition. Levick shares his knowledge with the next generation in part because of the many opportunities he has had. “I think what a good liberal arts education should and does provide at Maryland is an introduction. One of the things I loved about my experience at Maryland is it gave me the opportunity to have many, many internships.”  | ||||||||
