Most recently, I retired from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, having risen through the ranks from secretary to head of agricultural communications and director of the SANS Center for the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences. My duties included but were not limited to event planning, public relations, media relations, leading committees of communicators on the national level, and supervising a team of 6 professionals in news writing, graphic design, videography and photography, social media, information and communications technology, web development and event planning (2019-2022).As assistant director of public relations (2001-2005), I established a platform for internal communications that is still in place today. As director of public relations (2006-2010), I established the university's first-ever campuswide 8-page newsletter that's still in circulation. In addition, I was the liaison to local and national media outlets and provided access to some of the university's most prestigious visitors - from Nobel Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu to jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and a distinguished group from the PGA. Mid-career as the agricultural communications specialist (2010-2022) for the university, I established the university's first-ever research magazine, with the inaugural edition published in 2010, and several e-newsletters covering key ag and Extension activities.Before my time in public relations (1997-2001), I assisted UMES PresidentEmeritus William P. Hytche with the writing and publication of his memoirs, Step byStep to the Top (1999), and with the first written history of the university, Polishing theDiamond (2002).In 2001, I earned a bachelor's degree in English (summa cum laude). In 2006, I earned a pair of MBA degrees in marketing and management from AIU.