Marketing Strategist Susan Rogers Joins UT Dallas as VP for Communications

RICHARDSON, Texas (Sept. 26, 2006) — Susan Rogers, a marketing strategist and communication specialist, joins The University of Texas at Dallas next month as vice president for communications.   In the new senior-level position, she takes responsibility for enhancing the university’s visibility among key audiences.

Rogers, who reports to UT Dallas President Dr. David E. Daniel, assumes her duties Oct. 16.

Daniel called Rogers “a strategic thinker and outstanding communicator well-suited for this new role.”

Susan Rogers, the university’s newly hired
vice
president for communications, starts on Oct. 16.

“The creation of the position of vice president for communications signals our desire to tell the UT Dallas story in more and different ways, through a variety of channels and to a growing number of audiences, including potential students, faculty members and donors, legislators and government officials, funding agencies, businesses and other possible collaborators and opinion makers,” Daniel said.  “Thanks to the persistent efforts in recent years of a talented group of communications professionals at the university, people in this state and beyond are beginning to take notice that we are one of the true success stories in higher education in America.

“However, as we continue to make progress toward our goal of becoming one of the top public research universities in the United States and one of the best institutions of higher education in the world, we want to – in fact, must – take our communications efforts to the next level and to a much broader stage,” he said.  “As vice president for communications, Susan Rogers will define and lead this strategically important initiative.”

Rogers said: “The University of Texas at Dallas has many unsung virtues: amazing quality within its student body, an array of world-class researchers and faculty, and a clear and specific vision of its future and its growing value to the Dallas region culturally, intellectually and economically.  It will be a privilege to join this vibrant, vital organization and to bring the success of UT Dallas students, faculty and alumni to broader awareness.”

Rogers comes to UT Dallas from the University of Arkansas, where she served as associate vice chancellor for university relations, with responsibility for raising the national profile of that institution through news media campaigns and strategic issues management.  She has also served as director of marketing and communications in the Office of Development at Stanford University and as associate vice president for marketing and communications at the University of North Texas.

In addition to her work for educational institutions, Rogers has done communications and marketing consulting for a broad array of clients, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Central Park Conservancy, Long Island University, Lynchburg College, DePauw University and the University of Delaware.  She has extensive experience as a writer, reporter and editor at media outlets including The Dallas Morning News, The Miami Herald, The Chicago Sun-Times and D Magazine.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin.

At UT Dallas, Rogers will oversee an integrated communications organization, which will include the university’s media relations, advertising and marketing functions and presence on the Internet.  In the past, those activities were handled by a variety of university departments.

“While the structure of this new organization is still being finalized, we will likely adopt a model in which all of the university’s communications with its internal and external constituencies are conceived, coordinated and delivered by a single group, thus ensuring consistent, coherent messaging,” Daniel said.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,500 students.  The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores.  The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs.  For additional information about UT Dallas, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.