[Note: A high resolution photo of Schoenfeld is here.]
Michael Schoenfeld, Vanderbilt University’s chief communications, government and community relations officer and spokesman for more than a decade, will leave at the end of the academic year to become the vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke University in North Carolina, effective July 1.
“When I came here almost 12 years ago, it was my goal for Vanderbilt to quickly be recognized by our peers as setting the standard for communications and advocacy, and to add value to every part of the university’s mission,” said Schoenfeld. “I believe we have exceeded even those lofty ambitions, and I could not be more proud. Vanderbilt today is more visible, better understood by people around the world, and clearly at the front ranks of American higher education.”
“I am grateful to my colleagues, our faculty, students and staff, and the leadership here for giving me the opportunity to tell their stories and advance the academic mission of this great university,” Schoenfeld added. “Elizabeth, Abby and I have treasured our time in Nashville and will always remember the special spirit of this great city.”
“Mike has made every part of Vanderbilt better,” said Interim Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. “He is a leader, a thinker and a doer, a brilliant strategist whose commitment to Vanderbilt’s students, faculty and staff will make a difference here for a long time to come. It is hard to imagine this university, and this community, without him. I am grateful for all he has done at Vanderbilt and have only the best wishes for his future success.”
Schoenfeld and his wife, Elizabeth, director of the Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth and founder of the Vanderbilt Summer Academy, are Duke graduates who met as undergraduate students.
Schoenfeld joined Vanderbilt in 1997 as the university’s first vice chancellor for media relations and became vice chancellor for public affairs in 2000. Since his arrival, Vanderbilt’s public affairs efforts have been recognized as among the most creative and innovative in higher education, earning numerous honors from professional associations such as the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and, just last month, five Emmy Awards for online video programming. Vanderbilt is now a leader in the use of new communications channels, having launched VUCast, the Vanderbilt News Network and created partnerships with iTunes U, YouTube and Nashville Public Television, among others. Meanwhile, VUStar (Vanderbilt University Satellite Television and Radio) has become a national model for conducting broadcast media relations, reaching more than 200 million viewers with Vanderbilt experts and initiatives last year alone.
As chief government relations officer and lobbyist, Schoenfeld has been responsible for advancing Vanderbilt’s legislative agenda at the local, state and federal level on such issues as research funding, higher education policy, health care, employment and public safety. He also reorganized the university’s Washington, D.C. office to serve as Vanderbilt’s “embassy” in the nation’s capital. In 2006, he conceived and directed the first comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of higher education in Nashville, a joint public-private initiative that received significant local and regional attention and led to the creation of the first regional higher education advocacy group.
Over the past 12 years, Schoenfeld has represented the university with key institutions in the public, private and nonprofit sectors and directed Vanderbilt’s charitable contributions program. He has been an active participant in economic development initiatives, serving on the steering committee for Partnership 2010, the Nashville area’s economic development agency, and forging successful new partnerships with the Nashville Public Library, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. He also led the transformation of the Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory into a regional center for science outreach, community education and a popular concert series with the Bluebird Café.
Schoenfeld is an active leader in the Nashville community. He currently serves as president of the board of trustees of the University School of Nashville and chairman of the Tennessee Repertory Theater. His other board memberships include the Center for Nonprofit Management, WPLN-Nashville Public Radio, Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Nashville Alliance for Public Education, Leadership Music, the Country Music Association’s Blue Ribbon Committee, the Nashville Public Library Foundation, the Nashville Public Library, the Belcourt Theater, Vanderbilt Hillel, Alignment Nashville, the Centennial Park Conservancy and Sister Cities of Nashville. He is a 1998 graduate of Leadership Nashville and a 2004 graduate of Leadership Music.
On the national level, he is a member of the founding board of governors of the National Academy for Media Arts and Sciences, which fosters excellence in online media, and member of the executive committee of the Public Relations Society of America’s Counselors to Higher Education, the Association of American Universities (AAU) Public Affairs Committee and Council on Federal Relations. He has been named general chairman of the 2009 CASE Senior Summit, the largest annual gathering of educational advancement leaders.
Among his recent honors include the 2007 Otis Floyd, Jr. Award, presented every other year by the Tennessee College Public Relations Association to a leading higher education executive in the state, and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year Award, which he received in 2004 for leading the first marketing agency review in more than five years, and in 2006 for his role in creating a higher education initiative.
Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Schoenfeld was senior vice president for policy and public affairs at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in Washington, D.C., where he served as the chief spokesman and senior corporate officer for media relations, community relations, research and public policy. As the leader of CPB’s Internet and technology initiatives, he helped develop one of the first public telecommunications websites and negotiated a partnership with the MIT Media Lab.
Previously, Schoenfeld served as the director of program development at Worldnet, the United States Information Agency’s global satellite television network, and as chief of staff for the director of the Voice of America, where he also held a variety of executive and news reporting positions.
Media Contact: Beth Fortune (615) 343-1790
Beth.Fortune@vanderbilt.edu