The Community and Media Relations team is serious about its work, which includes everything from social media to press releases to web design–and getting it all done on deadline. From left–Rowena McPherson, Gayla Shaw, Eric Brissette, Rachel Rice.
The staff members of the Community and Media Relations Office send a warm welcome to all new and returning students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and wish them best of luck as they begin or continue their college careers.
If you’ve ever attended an event at UMPI or read or watched a news story about great things that are happening on campus, chances are you’ve come into contact with someone from Community and Media Relations. The office members work to increase UMPI’s visibility in media through print and online publications, social media, advertising and graphic design products. They are passionate about this campus and want everyone to know about the amazing cultural and community events and highlight the achievements of our students, alumni, faculty and staff.
Rachel Rice is the director of community and media relations and she coordinates numerous media projects, events and programs at UMPI. She works to bring new and exciting speakers to campus as part of the Distinguished Lecturer Series, which hosts at least three speakers per semester, and hosts many exciting theatre and music performers. Recent cultural events have included nationally renowned Shakespeare theater troupes, the New England-based Adam Ezra Group and Aroostook County’s own Star City Syndicate. Rachel is on the committee for special events such as University Day and Homecoming and coordinates visits from local media. She writes press releases that promote UMPI events and showcase stories of students, faculty, staff and alumni in the news and publishes UMPI’s monthly online newsletter Image.
Have you or your friends ever had their pictures taken at a campus event? Did you later see those photos on UMPI’s social media pages? Even if you haven’t, chances are you’ve seen Rowena McPherson walking around with a camera. Rowena is coordinator of graphic design, social media and photography. She designs the graphics and layout for numerous campus publications such as the Image newsletter, event flyers and brochures and the cultural events calendar. Whenever you like or share an UMPI post on Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms, thank Rowena. She regularly posts photos, stories and videos of UMPI students and faculty doing great things on our campus and in the community.
Next up is Eric Brissette, the webmaster for Community and Media Relations. You won’t see this UMPI owl flying around campus very often, but he takes his work just as seriously. Eric is responsible for creating the design and layout of UMPI’s official website (www.umpi.edu) and publishing new content on all its pages. He’s the person to whom faculty and staff turn when they want to improve the content on their academic or office page or create an entirely new page. He continually works to ensure that UMPI’s website is easy to navigate and that all can find the information they’re looking for.
Last but not least is Gayla Shaw, the administrative specialist. Gayla is the first person you’ll see when you come into the office and can answer any questions you have about cultural events or UMPI publications. She is the support person for all of the Community and Media Relations programs such as the Distinguished Lecturer Series and cultural arts events. She also maintains the databases for all university publications and sends Dean’s List and Graduation notifications to news media.
