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CCU announces appointment of Media Executive-in-Residence

Patricia O’Connor, executive editor and vice president of The Sun News, has been appointed the first Media Executive-in-Residence for the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts at Coastal Carolina University, according to an announcement today by Interim Dean John Beard.

Modeled after existing Executive-in-Residence programs at CCU, this position will bring a senior media executive with extensive media management experience into CCU’s rapidly growing Department of Communication and Journalism.   She will help guide the journalism program, assist communication and journalism students with career planning, and develop grant initiatives in support of departmental resource needs.  She will also identify and build strategic alliances with local, regional and national individuals and professional associations in order to strengthen the quality and range of the program.

In addition to teaching classes in media management and media relations, O’Connor will develop and deliver a variety of other learning experiences including: condensed format seminars, guest lectures in ongoing classes and “open” hours for student career advising. She will also use her professional experience and contacts to help plan and form a departmental advisory board to assist in strategic planning and evaluating program initiatives.

O’Connor earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee.  During her 30-year career, she worked for The Capital Times in Madison, Wisc., The Wichita Eagle and The Charlotte Observer. Most recently, she has served as executive editor and vice president of The Sun News since 1999. She will retire from The Sun News at the end of the year and begin her new position at CCU in January 2011.

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