Lukaszewski named Alumnus of the Year

James Lukaszewski was named Metropolitan State University’s Alumnus of the Year on April 19 at a special university recognition dinner in Saint Paul, Minn.

Alumni of the Year are chosen based on the quality of their leadership performance and the extent to which they have made a meaningful contribution to Metropolitan State or to the community. Lukaszewski was chosen because of his significant contributions as a national leader and educator in public relations to state government and to the university.

Lukaszewski is a public relations counselor and a senior management advisor. He prepares top executives for interviews on such television programs as "20/20," "60 Minutes," "Dateline NBC" and "Nightline" as well as for congressional testimony.

Lukaszewski graduated from Metropolitan State in 1974 as part of the school’s second graduating class, and he is one of the university’s first 100 graduates. He was the first graduate elected president of the Alumni Association Board and was the first graduate to serve on Metropolitan State’s Foundation Board of Trustees. Last year he served on the Metropolitan State "kitchen cabinet" for alumni relations and the annual fund.

Lukaszewski has academic ties to or lectures at New York University, Columbia University and the Ancell School of Business at Western Connecticut State University.

Together with President Wilson G. Bradshaw and Professor Susan Rydell, Lukaszewski recently hosted the first gathering of Metropolitan State graduates living on the East Coast in New York City.

He has authored books and articles on crisis management and leadership, and he is a member of InfoCom’s Media Relations Insider editorial advisory board, a contributing editor of Public Relations Quarterly and a regular columnist of the magazine The Strategist.

Lukaszewski teaches and speaks across America, Canada and South America. He has published numerous monographs and newsletters, which are available on his Web site.

He is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), an elected member of its College of Fellows and a senior member of the PRSA’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards. In addition, he has received several awards.

Prior to moving to the New York-area 20 years ago, Lukaszewski was deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Economic Development and deputy press secretary for radio and television to former Minnesota Governor Wendell Anderson. He now heads The Lukaszewski Group Inc., based in White Plains, N.Y. He and his wife Barbara live in Danbury, Conn.