Pending approval by the OU Board of Regents, President Joseph Harroz Jr. announced Jennifer Hollingshead as the new vice president of marketing and communications.
Hollingshead will join OU on Aug. 21 to start the fall semester. She will be transferring from Rutgers University where she currently serves as the vice chancellor of marketing and communications.
According to an email sent by Harroz Monday, Hollingshead's main duties at Rutgers included leading marketing strategies to improve the university's reputation for both the Rutgers-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences campuses.
At OU, Hollingshead will have the duty of managing and developing the OU brand in an effort to amplify the university's prominence and to highlight its life-changing opportunities. One of her first tasks will be to completely unify all marketers and communicators in a single division to propel the OU brand onto a higher level.
OU’s search committee led by Jennifer Schultz, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer for OU Health, attracted interest from over 200 candidates from across the country. The search was ultimately narrowed down to 11 candidates with five semifinalists and three finalists.
“We extend our thanks to the members of our search committee for their dedicated work throughout a national search process that attracted interest from over 200 candidates across higher education and the private sector,” Harroz wrote.
Hollingshead earned her bachelor’s in journalism and sociology from the University of Missouri and began her career as a reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune. She also earned her master's in business administration at Columbia College in Missouri.
Prior to Rutgers, Hollingshead worked at the University of Missouri as an interim vice chancellor of marketing and communications. She also served as the chief communications officer for the University of Missouri System and was part of a marketing team within the University of Missouri Health.
“The relevancy of Jen’s background at multiple higher education institutions with AAU status and with Mizzou’s work in the SEC makes her a natural fit for the important work ahead. We are incredibly excited to bring such an esteemed marketing and communications leader to the University of Oklahoma,” Harroz wrote. “Please join me in welcoming Jen Hollingshead to the OU Family.”
This story was edited by Teegan Smith. Grace Rhodes and Nikkie Aisha copy edited this story.
