1-3-97
Contacts:
Murray Blackwelder, External Affairs, (515) 294-7730
Steve Jones, News Service, (515) 294-4778
SIX ARE FINALISTS FOR ISU'S UNIVERSITY RELATIONS DIRECTOR
AMES, Iowa -- Six finalists have been named in a search for the director of university relations at Iowa State University.
The finalists are: John Anderson, interim director of university relations, Iowa State; John Camper, associate chancellor for public affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago; Thomas Hutton, director, office of university relations, University of Kansas, Lawrence; Barry Johnson, assistant vice president, office of public relations, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio; John McCarroll, manager and coordinator of media relations and financial communications, MidAmerican Energy Co., Des Moines; Rhonda Rathje, director of public affairs planning and customer communications, GTE Telephone Operations, Irving, Texas.
The director of university relations will oversee three ISU communications departments: internal communications, news service and photo service. The director also acts as ISU's primary spokesperson with the news media.
The new director will succeed Cherryl Jensen, who left ISU in June of 1994 and now serves as director of university relations at Heritage College, Yakima, Wash.
Each finalist will visit ISU during the coming weeks to interview and meet with several university groups. Each candidate also will meet with members of the university community and the public during an open forum. Following is the forum schedule (all forums begin at 4 p.m. in the Gold Room of the Memorial Union):
Open Forums
McCarroll: Thursday, Jan. 23
Hutton: Monday, Jan. 27
Camper: Wednesday, Jan. 29
Rathje: Friday, Jan. 31
Johnson: Monday, Feb. 3
Anderson: Wednesday, Feb. 5
Rhonda Rathje has worked at GTE since 1980. She has been director of public affairs planning and customer communications since 1995. Her previous GTE positions include manager-customer communications, state director-public affairs and area director- communications. Rathje received the B.A. in journalism and mass communication and in speech from Iowa State (1980) and the M.A. in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Texas at Dallas (1988).
Thomas Hutton has been at the University of Kansas since 1990. He has been director of the office of university relations since 1993 after serving as acting director and associate director of university relations. He also has worked as a newspaper publisher and a reporter in Kansas. Hutton received the B.S. in journalism from the University of Kansas.
John Camper has been associate chancellor for public affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago since 1990. Previously he worked as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Detroit News and other newspapers. He also was an editorial writer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Camper received the B.A. in English from Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio.
John Anderson has been at Iowa State since 1980. He has been interim director of university relations since 1994 and from 1989 to 1990, and he has been associate director of university relations since 1986. Anderson also has been news bureau editor and served as interim director of ISU's WOI-AM/FM, photo service and office of publications. Prior to coming to ISU, Anderson was a newspaper editor in Iowa. He received the B.S. in journalism from Iowa State (1972).
Barry Johnson has been assistant vice president, office of public relations, at Wright State University since 1995. Previously he was director of the office of public affairs, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, and manager of media relations and publications, Nashville State Technical Institute, Nashville, Tenn. Johnson received the B.S. in communication from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (1980), the M.B.A. from Tennessee State University, Nashville (1989), and the Ed.S. from Tennessee Tech University (1995).
John McCarroll has been manager and coordinator of media relations and financial communications for MidAmerican Energy Co. since 1989. Previously he was director of communications for the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, Des Moines, and was an administrative assistant and press secretary to Gov. Robert D. Ray. He also has worked as a radio and newspaper reporter. McCarroll received the B.S. in journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia (1972).
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Diana Pounds, University Relations, dpounds@iastate.edu
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Revised 1/3/97