Eaddy will advise the president and board of trustees regarding external relations, initiate new projects, serve as a liaison between the university and business leaders, build improvement teams among related departments and work with public officials on behalf of the university.

Eaddy, of Myrtle Beach, is owner of The Wordsmith Inc., a public relations firm. She serves on the board of directors of Crescent Bank and EPC Services, and she is a member of the counselors Academy of the Public Relations Society of America, the South Carolina Writers Workshop, Mystery Writers of America and the Myrtle Beach Rotary Club.

Eaddy attended Queens University in Charlotte, N.C., and earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism and a master's degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina. She studied creative writing at Bread Loaf Writers Conference at Middlebury College in Vermont.