Winter 2020 Conference Speakers
Wes Bellamy
KEYNOTE PANEL: WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR THIS ELECTION YEAR?
Wes Bellamy is the author of “Monumental: It Was Never About a Statue.” He also is a City Councilman in Charlottesville, Va., interim chair of the Department of Political Science at Virginia State University, and one of the global thought leaders of the Millennial Generation. He is the youngest individual ever to be elected to Charlottesville City Council. He came into the national spotlight after helping lead the effort to remove statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from City Parks.
He developed a comprehensive plan, the “Equity Package,” which included nearly $4 million in aid for marginalized communities, and pushed it through city council. He is the founder of the Black Millennial Political Convention, which is focused on bringing together African-American millennials from across the country to collectively use their power to create change. He has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Huffington Post, and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, PBS News Hour, NPR, and On One with Angela Rye.
Robert E. Denton Jr.
KEYNOTE PANEL: WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR THIS ELECTION YEAR?
Robert E. Denton Jr. teaches at Virginia Tech, where he holds the W. Thomas Rice Chair in the Pamplin College of Business as Professor of Practice in the Department of Marketing and is Professor and Head of the Department of Communication. He received his undergraduate and master’s education at Wake Forest University and his doctorate from Purdue University. Prior to returning to academe, he served on active duty in the U.S. Army, achieving the rank of Captain. In addition, he worked on the development and execution of the Army’s “Be All You Can Be” advertising campaign. He founded Denton, Kreps, and Weckerly, LTD., a full-service advertising agency located just outside of Chicago. In addition to commercial accounts, Denton worked in numerous political campaigns.
Stephen J. Farnsworth
KEYNOTE PANEL: WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR THIS ELECTION YEAR?
Stephen J. Farnsworth is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington. He is the author or co-author of six books and a 2017 recipient of the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. His books include “Presidential Communication and Character: White House News Management from Clinton and Cable to Twitter and Trump,” “The Global President: International Media and the U.S. Government,” “The Nightly News Nightmare: Media Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2008,” “Spinner in Chief: How Presidents Sell Their Policies and Themselves,” “The Mediated Presidency: Television News and Presidential Governance” and “Political Support in a Frustrated America.” His political commentary has appeared in a wide range of media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, Politico, C-SPAN and BBC World.
J. Marshall Pattie
KEYNOTE PANEL: WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR THIS ELECTION YEAR?
Marsh Pattie serves as Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs at the University of Virginia. His areas of focus include critical incident planning and management, policy and compliance, advising the University Judiciary Committee (the student conduct board), and state government relations. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary, as well as a master’s and doctorate from UVA. Throughout his nearly twenty years in student affairs, Pattie has served in a variety of roles advising students, student organizations, and campus leaders in addition to managing various units, including student activities/engagement, academic operations, finance and operations, fraternity and sorority life, and international student advising. As a former dean and current assistant vice president, Pattie has also managed an array of incidents from his on-call work responding to individual behavioral, threat assessment, and health emergencies to large-scale situations, including supervising Fraternity & Sorority Life and Student Activities during the Rolling Stonecontroversy and supporting institutional response to campus protests. With a strong interest in developing resilience as an essential quality of leadership, Pattie co-teaches a course on the subject in UVA’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
Joe Blum
LET’S GET VISUAL: CREATING PHOTOS AND VIDEOS TO ENHANCE YOUR STORYTELLING
Joe Blum is the Director of Photography and Video in the Office of Communications at Sweet Briar College, guiding the overall visual identity of the college while primarily creating video content. Before joining Sweet Briar, he has worked as a video producer at St. Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Prior to entering higher education, Joe held various roles in the Los Angeles film industry, from production assistant to on-set photographer.
In addition to producing content, Joe has a passion for educating others in telling their own visual stories, having taught multimedia production courses at Syracuse University and UW-River Falls.
Joe earned an M.S. in Photography from Syracuse University and a B.A.in Communications from Virginia Tech.
Jonsette Calloway
STRAIGHT TALK: BREAKING BAD NEWS TO PAYING CUSTOMERS
Jonsette Calloway joined Virginia Commonwealth University as the public relations specialist for Parking and Transportation in 2015, and transitioned to the University Public Affairs team in 2017. She currently handles outreach communications, marketing and event planning for VCU Parking and Transportation. Prior to joining VCU, she worked as a copywriter at Johnson, Inc., a marketing and communications agency in Richmond, Virginia, and at Bank of America. Jonsette graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in advertising/English in 2009. She earned her master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from West Virginia University in 2012.
Jennifer Carmean
STRAIGHT TALK: BREAKING BAD NEWS TO PAYING CUSTOMERS
Jennifer Carmean celebrated her 25th year with Virginia Commonwealth University, with much of her career focused on marketing communications for higher education. She joined the University Public Affairs team in November 2013. She oversees communication and strategy efforts for university-level communications. Her work has earned the division awards from PRSA, CASE and the Richmond Ad Club. A VCU alumna, she completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1998.
Diana Burkett
DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING A CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
Diana Burkett, APR, is the Director of Strategic Communications and Enrollment Management at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education, where she leads the integrated communications and recruitment efforts of the school and serves as an advisor to the leadership team. A graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Burkett has more than 13 years of experience in communications and public relations, including at the University of Richmond, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Edelman Public Relations and Chandler Chicco companies.
Suzanne A. Silitch
DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING A CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
Suzanne A. Silitch, APR, is the Director of Communications at VCU School of the Arts. She is a member of the dean’s leadership team, strategically planning and executing messaging for VCUarts, including executive communications and issues management. Within the Communications Office, she leads a creative team comprising designers, web developers, content creators, media specialists, photographers and videographers. Silitch also collaborates with the school’s branch campus in Doha, Qatar, on unified brand identity and messaging; and produces Studio, the VCUarts alumni magazine. She and her team have won numerous awards for communications and print design from CASE, Hermes, PRINT, PRSA and Red Dot. Silitch earned her MFA from State University of New York at Stony Brook, a graduate certificate in business administration Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and her BA from Mary Washington College.
Teresa Mannix
LONG-TERM STRATEGIES FOR RANKINGS RESULTS
Teresa Mannix, senior assistant dean for communications at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, has been responsible for coordinating rankings data submissions, mobilizing external audiences to complete surveys, and working with school leadership to understand rankings at two institutions. She currently leads the editorial team at McDonough, overseeing media relations, rankings, executive messaging, editorial services, and social media. She holds an M.A. from George Mason University, B.A. from the University of Mary Washington, and certificates in leadership and marketing from Georgetown University.
Dean Browell
DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHY: BEYOND DASHBOARDS AND ONTO MESSAGE BOARDS
Dean Browell is a principal at the research firm Feedback. He holds a PhD in Higher Education Leadership, specializing in generational differences and in applying ethnography in a digital space. For seven years he led Ferrum College public relations and In the last 10 years conducted research and offered strategy to colleges and universities across the country. He currently serves on the boards of the American Hospital Association’s Strategist and Marketer membership group (SHSMD), the University of Richmond’s Institute on Philanthropy, and the Poe Museum.
Sarah Marshall Elliott
DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHY: BEYOND DASHBOARDS AND ONTO MESSAGE BOARDS
Sarah Marshall Elliott is the founder and CEO of higher ed branding and marketing consultancy, Capstone Brand Partners. She is a recognized leader of strategic marketing, branding and communications initiatives in the higher education, financial services and publishing sectors. Her career began at USA TODAY where she worked in direct marketing, advertising, licensing and new business and product development. She then spent 10 years in niche consumer magazine publishing where she served as a vice president of marketing, publisher and group publisher. After leading a highly successful rebranding initiative at Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance, she joined Virginia Tech as the assistant vice president of marketing and creative services. In 2017 Sarah joined EAB as the Director of Program Marketing where she developed fundraising direct marketing strategy for over 40 colleges and universities. As an oil painter, Sarah enjoys volunteering with a program that brings art to underserved communities.
Nicole Hansen
THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: HOW TO MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA WORK FOR YOU
Nicole Hansen is the communications coordinator for the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. She manages its social media channels and writes its monthly newsletters. She wears multiple hats in the Richmond digital media market, including as a freelance social media video editor for multiple RVA marketing companies, and director of social media for the Richmond Chapter of the American Marketing Association. She is an Emmy award winning television news reporter and a graduate of Elon University.
David Booker
BEST PRACTICES FOR COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY WEBSITES
David Booker is the Assistant Webmaster for Norfolk State University in Norfolk, responsible for creating websites, updating current websites, video editing and producing the University’s Making Waves newsletter. Over the past 20 years, David has managed websites and graphic design projects, working with clients ranging from schools and colleges to design and marketing agencies. He found his love for web work while in graduate school, where he began creating custom Myspace pages. David holds a master’s in Piano Performance and bachelor’s degrees in Mass Communications and Music from Norfolk State. He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh online with a concentration in Web Design. As a musician, he performs with Jam Nation, a party band; Kustom Made, a wedding band; and at Calvary Revival Church.