Penn State Intercom......May 24, 2001
Public Information's News Bureau
announces change in leadership
News Bureau manager to retire May 31
The Penn State News Bureau, part of the Department of Public Information, is getting a new look.
Effective June 1, Tysen Kendig will be manager, Amy Neil will be assistant manager and Gary Cramer will continue as an information officer. A search will begin shortly for a second information officer. Patty Taverno is news assistant.
The current manager, Christy Rambeau, will retire from the University on May 31, after serving 12 years with the News Bureau.
The News Bureau is one of several units in the Department of Public Information, which is directed by Bill Mahon. Other units are: Internal Communications and Intercom, managed by Annemarie Mountz; Science, Engineering and Research Communications group, managed by Vicki Fong; and Electronic Communications, managed by Melisande McCrae.
Kendig,
who currently is assistant manager, will be responsible for the management
of executive and administrative issues, needs and projects in providing
public relations counsel, direction and services. He will administer the
University's coverage of institutional missions in teaching, research
and outreach, and monitor the placement and development of stories to
attract local, regional and national media attention.
As manager, Kendig also will supervise the daily activities of the News Bureau and its staff, guiding the production of Penn State Newswire and responding to media requests for information.
A 1995 baccalaureate degree graduate of Penn State in journalism with a minor in geography, Kendig joined the University's public information staff in January 2000. He previously served as associate director of public relations at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.; held reporting and editing posts at The Trentonian, a daily newspaper in Trenton, N.J.; and has been a free-lance contributor for several other local and national news and sports publications. As a Penn State undergraduate, Kendig wrote and edited for Blue-White Illustrated magazine and The Daily Collegian.
Neil,
who has been an information officer in the News Bureau since July 2000,
will become assistant manager.
She will be responsible for the development, implementation and management of promotional and communication strategies, editing press releases, statements and other forms of communication, and selecting targeted markets for distribution. She will help supervise the daily office activities of the department, including the production and dissemination of news to appropriate audiences and work with communicators in all the colleges and at all the campus locations.
Before joining the News Bureau, Neil was publicity and sales manager for the Penn State University Press, where she was the liaison between the national media and the Press. She also wrote press releases and promotional materials, set up radio, television and print interviews for authors and organized book signings.
Neil is a 1990 baccalaureate degree graduate of Penn State in journalism.
Cramer
joined Public Information as an information officer in February. He helps
establish University-wide communications with academic and administrative
units and provides advice on public information strategies. He writes
and edits articles for traditional and electronic media, including the
department's Newswires, and supports Web page development relating to
news.
Cramer graduated from Penn State with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1987. Before returning to Penn State, he was a farm and religion reporter for the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.
News Bureau manager
to retire effective May 31
Christy
Rambeau, manager of the News Bureau in Public Information, is retiring
May 31 after nearly 12 years with the department.
She began working for the University in 1980 as a library assistant, writer and editor for the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, Pattee Library and Cooperative Extension. In 1982 she joined Agricultural Information as a writer and served as a writer-editor and as coordinator of news before joining Public Information in 1989 as assistant manager. She was named manager in 1994. She was an officer on the board of directors of the College and University Public Relations Association of Pennsylvania.
Rambeau also worked for the NDEA French and Spanish Language Institute and the O'Henry Prize Awards at Rutgers University and taught at the Philadelphia Theatre for Children in Philadelphia.
She attended Sarah Lawrence College, graduated from the University of Cincinnati and received a master's degree in regional planning from Penn State in 1980. She has been president of the Highlands Neighborhood Association, vice chair of the State College Borough Planning Commission, chair of the Borough Design Review Board and a member of the Borough Parking Authority.
In retirement, she plans to do more gardening, travel and spend time with her family, including her granddaughter.