Marketing and Communication Office to Close for Conference

The Marketing and Communication office will be closed from 2 p.m., Oct. 14 through Oct 16. All four of the office’s staff members — Matt Gagliardi, Sarah Gerass, Ryan Herman and Hal Legg — will be attending a National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR) conference in Buffalo on those days. They will all check email from time to time while they are away to triage urgent matters.

Legg is the chair of the conference, which invites participation from communication practitioners who work at two-year higher education institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec, and the United Kingdom.

Gerass will accept an award at the conference. The NCMPR named her its 2026 District 1 Rising Star of the Year. This award recognizes newcomers to the marketing or public relations field who have demonstrated special creativity or ability and show evidence of a promising future in the field.

NCMPR is the only organization dedicated to advancing marketing and public relations at community and technical colleges. One of the fastest-growing affiliates of the American Association of Community Colleges, NCMPR has more than 1,600 members from nearly 600 colleges.