SUNY New Paltz Public Affairs Office gets interim director

NEW PALTZ — Shelly Wright, a lecturer in the SUNY New Paltz Department of Communication and Media and the coordinator of the college’s public relations program, has agreed to serve as interim director of the college’s Public Affairs Office. She will lead the office during the summer of 2002 while a search for a permanent director is carried out.

“I am delighted that Shelly Wright has generously agreed to share her expertise with New Paltz in this way,” said Interim President Steven Poskanzer. “Shelly is a gifted teacher who also brings considerable real world knowledge to the classroom. During this transitional period, the entire college will be able to draw on her wisdom and energy. Fortunately for New Paltz and its students, she will also continue with her teaching.”

“As a SUNY New Paltz faculty member who coordinates the public relations curriculum in the Department of Communication and Media, I am both familiar with and impressed by the work done in the Office of Public Affairs,” said Wright. “This office plays a vital role, and I’m happy to serve as interim director during the search for a permanent replacement.”

Wright has been with the New Paltz Department of Communication and Media since 1996 and the coordinator of the public relations degree program since its inception in 1998. Before joining the New Paltz faculty, Wright taught journalism and public relations at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

Wright is a native of Des Moines, Iowa, and earned her bachelor’s degree from Wartburg College in 1987. She continued her education, earning a master’s degree in journalism in 1990 from the Columbia University Graduate School, and she is currently completing the doctoral program in sociology at the University at Albany.

Wright’s commitment to the fields of journalism and public relations has guided her to various positions from which she gained valuable experience. Before she began teaching, Wright was a newspaper reporter and copy editor for the Times Herald-Record. Earlier in her career, she was an editor and German translator in the information bureau of the non-profit international organization, the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, Switzerland.

Wright resides in the town of New Paltz with her husband, Lee, and son, Lee Jr.