University of Central Florida (UCF) Alumni celebrated Curley & Pynn Public Relations Management – The Strategic Firm® – among 11 winners of its 2022 Shining Knights Awards Oct. 27, 2022, at the Celeste Hotel in Orlando, Florida.
The annual program honors the commitment of distinguished alumni and community organizations for their support of the University. Curley & Pynn received the “Champion’s Award,” joining FAIRWINDS Credit Union and Orlando Health, among corporations recognized for their integral role in supporting the University’s growth and transformation as consistent advocates and champions.
President Dan Ward, APR, CPRC, ‘92, and Co-Founder and Senior Counsel Roger Pynn, APR, CPRC, ‘73, for decades have modeled the firm’s commitment to UCF through their alumni engagement, volunteer leadership roles and philanthropic contributions.
Ward has served in multiple volunteer leadership roles at the University, including director (2007-2022) and chair (2018-2020) on the UCF Alumni board. He is an adviser for the UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media, and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2011.
Pynn has remained an engaged volunteer and donor since graduating in 1973 when UCF was still known as Florida Technological University. He serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the UCF College of Sciences, which he has also chaired, as well as the advisory board for the UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media. Pynn is also an emeritus member of the UCF Foundation board of directors on which he served since 1988, including his year as chair of the board in 1997-1998.
Pynn’s decades of service to the university have culminated in several awards, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1989, the Distinguished Achievement Award from the UCF College of Arts & Sciences in 1993, and the Distinguished Service Award from UCF Alumni in 1997. In 2000, he was named among the UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media’s inaugural Hall of Fame inductees and he was recognized in 2008 among winners of the inaugural UCF Alumni Jefferson Awards, which honored the association’s most active volunteers for their acts of generosity and numerous volunteer hours. In 2007, he and his wife, Shelley, established the Irene Farrell Pynn Endowed Communications Scholarship in honor of his mother, Irene Farrell Pynn, for students in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media.
Both Ward and Pynn have also supported the University through the practice of public relations at Curley & Pynn. The agency has counted several university entities among its clients, including the UCF Foundation, UCF Communications, the UCF Board of Trustees and the UCF Business Incubation Program.
Curley & Pynn represents UCF RESTORES, a clinical research center and treatment clinic established to change the way posttraumatic stress disorder and other trauma-related concerns are understood, diagnosed and treated. The team also provides pro-bono services to Limbitless Solutions, a nonprofit and direct support organization at UCF dedicated to increasing accessibility, and empowering children and adults in the limb difference community. Curley & Pynn played an integral role in launching the Florida High Tech Corridor – an economic development initiative of UCF, and its partners at the University of South Florida and the University of Florida to advance high tech innovation throughout a 23-county region – and has continued to partner with the organization for more than 25 years.
In March 2022, Curley & Pynn partnered with the UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media on the delivery of Ad/PR Pathways, a workshop for next-generation practitioners of color.
Curley & Pynn’s first employee was a UCF graduate, and it has since enjoyed hiring many alumni and student interns. The firm’s current employee roster includes a UCF Alumni 30 Under 30 honoree and a past leader of the UCF Young Alumni Council.
For more information about Curley & Pynn, visit TheStrategicFirm.com or follow Curley & Pynn on LinkedIn.
About Curley & Pynn
Curley & Pynn Public Relations Management – The Strategic Firm® – is an Orlando-based public relations and marketing communications agency founded in 1984 on the insights of top executives, and decades of corporate communications experience. The team builds and manages award-winning communications programs to shape perception, align with key stakeholders and cultivate influence for leading brands in the industries driving Florida’s economic growth, including energy, higher education, technology and tourism. For more information, visit www.thestrategicfirm.com.
