The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a nationally prominent center for journalism training and an international media studies think tank, has named Chris Martin as president of the newly formed Poynter Foundation.

Martin, currently West Virginia University’s vice president for University Relations, will be responsible for significantly increasing philanthropic support for the 37-year-old Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. Additionally, she will serve as Poynter’s vice president for external relations as a member of the Institute’s senior management team.

“I am truly grateful for all the opportunities I have had at WVU, the colleagues I have worked with and the friends I have made. The only place with an equal hold on my heart is Poynter,” Martin said.

Martin has been a member of the senior leadership team at WVU for the past nine years. Prior to that, she was dean of the University’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism. She joined the faculty there in 1990. During her time at WVU, she also co-directed Poynter’s College Newswriting and Reporting Fellowship Program from 1997 to 2004.

As a WVU faculty member, Martin was the winner of two Freedom Forum Research Awards. She was also named the1999 Freedom Forum Journalism Professor of the Year, the 1998 CASE/Carnegie Foundation West Virginia Professor of the Year, and in 1998, she earned the WVU Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching.

As dean, she spearheaded fundraising and development for the School of Journalism, leading advancement efforts that resulted in state and federal grants, endowed and funded professorships, scholarships, lectureships, internships, innovation support and capital improvements. During her tenure, she led the establishment of the nation’s first online master’s degree program in integrated marketing communications.

She also established the Ogden Newspapers Visiting Professorship – an endowed position designed to bring the best and brightest journalism stars to the WVU campus. That gift from the Nutting family resulted in attracting renowned Associated Press special correspondent, George Esper, to WVU as a beloved professor for over a decade.

As vice president, Martin supervises and directs communications, media, marketing and branding operations. She leads a nationally recognized integrated marketing communication division that developed a unique hybrid of multi-platform, journalism-based storytelling, marketing-driven communications and emergent media relations.

She oversaw the development of WVU’s first multimedia communications network, WVUToday; a mobile, multimedia communication platform for central university communications, WVUMobileWeb and iWVU; a campuswide digital communication system, called Information Stations; and a growing array of social media vehicles for recruitment, retention, affinity building and communication among constituents (Twitter, facebook, Linkedin, FourSquare, Pinterest, etc.)

Under her leadership, the Division also led and implemented new recruitment/marketing strategies that were instrumental in helping to raise WVU’s enrollment to the largest levels ever, with strategic gains in graduate students, minorities and international students this year.

Her Division has captured numerous national and international awards – Tellys, MarComs, CASE, Webbys – for emergent and social media initiatives, and led the marketing communication strategy to boost WVU’s Office of Trademark Licensing to 15th in the nation for sales and 3rd in the Big 12 Conference.

University Relations also helped the WVU Foundation to achieve record fund-raising for the fiscal year 2011-2012, garnering $173 million in contributions, and is currently working with the Foundation in executing A State of Minds campaign to raise $750 million.

Martin speaks and consults nationally on writing, reporting, emergent media, media technology and mass communications.

WVU President Jim Clements lauded Martin’s work, saying, “Everyday Chris approached her role on our team with intellect, creativity, integrity and strategic vision. Through her work as a faculty member, dean and vice president at WVU, she has definitely left her mark on the University. We will greatly miss her.”

Clements added, “She has a drive to always learn and stay on top of the latest in technology, which is reflected in the work of University Relations. The quality and push for excellence by the whole UR team has led to many awards and helped us reach goals in everything from student recruiting to alumni relations.”

Poynter Foundation Board Chair Brian Tierney, former publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer and an expert in branding, marketing and advertising, said of Martin’s appointment, “We wanted a leader who loves journalism and teaching, understands the unique role that Poynter plays, and has a proven record of development success. We found all that and more in Christine Martin.”

“Poynter has always been the lodestar in my career, a bright light guiding my best work and smartest decisions,” Martin said of her return to the Institute. “This move even trumps my first job as a reporter – when I used to phone in extra police calls just so I could say out loud, that I worked for a newspaper.

“This new position gives me a wonderful opportunity to combine my love for journalism, my passion for marketing and relationship building—and my love for Poynter,” Martin added. “I am honored for this opportunity to help chart a future for Poynter worthy of its history.”

As Poynter’s formal fundraising arm, the Foundation will build philanthropic support through major gift solicitation, annual campaigns, planned giving, special events, alumni relations and donor recognition programs. Once fully formed, the Foundation Board will be comprise 20 members, both community and media leaders.

About The Poynter Institute
Founded in 1975 in St. Petersburg, Fla., The Poynter Institute is one of the nation’s top schools for professional journalists and news media leaders, future journalists, journalism teachers and citizens. Poynter offers training and events throughout the year in the areas of online and multimedia, leadership and management, reporting, writing and editing, TV and radio, ethics and diversity, journalism education and visual journalism. Poynter’s News University (www.newsu.org) offers journalism training to the public through more than 200 interactive modules and other forms of e-learning. It has more than 200,000 registered users in 225 countries. Poynter’s website, (www.poynter.org) is the dominant provider of journalism news, with a focus on business analysis and the opportunities and implications of technology.

-WVU-

11/19/12

CONTACTS: University Relations/News
304.293.6997

Karen B. Dunlap, President, The Poynter Institute
727.821.9494

Jessica Blais, Marketing Director, The Poynter Institute
727.821.9494
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