Dr. Isabella Cunningham Receives the Robert C. Jeffrey Award

Dr. Cunningham, chair of the Advertising Department at The University of Texas at Austin, is one of six recipients of the annual 2009 Robert C. Jeffrey Award. This award recognizes an individual's time, labor and philanthropy on behalf of the College of Communication.

Dr. Cunningham embodies academic leadership as a master of many tongues, lawyer, professor, author, researcher, teacher, and, most especially, a focused mother. She joined the Department of Advertising in 1974 and her commitment to the College is unsurpassed. As chairwoman, Dr. Cunningham strives for continuing excellence. She has overseen the growth of the public relations program by strengthening the writing curriculum and ensuring that business foundation courses were integrated into the sequence. As a professor, she insists that her students challenge themselves; as a university citizen, she works longer, harder and smarter than anyone on campus.

In 2006, Roderick P. Hart, dean of the College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin, established the Benefactor Awards to honor Bob Jeffrey, the third dean of the College of Communication, and to those that reflect his commitment to the college. Bob Jeffrey, who died in 2000, served as dean from 1979 to 1993 and during his tenure, he hired many of the college's best and brightest faculty and helped build the college's endowment.

"The Jeffrey Awards are given to those who have gone out of their way to share their time, their labor, their advice, or their treasure with the college," Roderick P. Hart said, dean of the College of Communication. "The award reflects the spirit of Dean Jeffrey, who was a man of extraordinary warmth and commitment, and who was the finest ambassador this college has ever had."