By Kathryn Flynn
Contributing Writer

Tired of having Wesleyan confused with that girl’s school outside Boston?

The Administration has created a new position, Director of University Communications, to increase public awareness of Wesleyan, according to Vice President of University Relations Barbara-Jan Wilson.

The person who fills the new position will be responsible for developing a cohesive message about Wesleyan that will be communicated in the Office of Communication’s publications, which include admissions material and the alumni magazine.

That message will be based on the University’s strengths and culture, according to a job profile on the University’s website.

Wilson said the University has not focused on developing its public image since the departure of the last director of communications, Bobby Wayne Clark, several years ago.

Bob Barton ’65, Vice President of University Relations from April 1996 to December 1998, restructured University Relations after Clark’s departure, according to Wilson.

"In an academic institution, you don’t want to spend money on public relations because it takes away from academic programs," Wilson said.

The position was once again created by the University’s Strategic Plan, adopted by the Board of Trustees in 1998.

Wilson also emphasized the director of communications’s role in improving and integrating the University’s websites.

She said the new director of communications would report to her and work closely with President Bennet.

Students agreed with the University’s goal of improving Wesleyan’s public image.

"It’s kind of discouraging when people ask, and then they’ve never heard of the school you’re going to," said Cari Laughlin ’02.

"It is my opinion that Wesleyan is well-known among businesses and corporate employers but not to the average person," said Osborne Hazel ’03.

The University used the executive recruitment firm of Isaacson Miller to assist in the search, according to Wilson. The firm interviewed 50 candidates from the resumes and referrals it received.

Four candidates were then invited for interviews on campus. Wilson said she and President Bennet will choose from these four candidates, based on suggestions from several panels that interviewed them.

The search is currently in a confidential phase, so the candidates could not be discussed publicly, Wilson said.

According to Wilson, the new position will shift some responsibility from Bill Holder, currently acting director of media relations and director of campus and alumni communications. But she said Holder will remain acting director of media relations until the new director of communications hires someone else to fill that position or reorganizes the responsibilities of the current staff.