Dartblog

Dartmouth’s new public relations guru, Diana Pearson. She is formerly of TIME, Newsweek, and Martha Stewart.

Holding forth on its specious view that the problem is the medium, not the message, Dartmouth College has just hired a seasoned public relations expert as its Vice President for Communications, a job held by Bill Walker until the constitution was defeated and by Sheila Culbert until she elected to leave the administration to run a preparatory school.

Diana Pearson, who formerly worked for TIME, Newsweek, and most recently for Martha Stewart Omnimedia in New York, will be anointed the doyenne of 7 Lebanon Street in March of this year. She will oversee the College’s public relations efforts, which at the moment are focused on the court case regarding democracy and parity on the Board of Trustees, James Wright’s legacy, the upcoming Association of Alumni election, the presidential search, and several other matters.

As in the past, one may expect Ms. Pearson to be aided by hired hands in Washington and New York on an as-needed basis.

Ms. Pearson was a brand extentionist at her other outfits—not, I am given to understand, a crisis manager. It will be fascinating to see how Dartmouth’s extensive output of P.R. material transmogrifies as she takes up her role and faces the force of democratic action, free debate among students and alumni, and the brunt of the Superior Court of the State of New Hampshire, which is not, at the moment, very popular with the College administration.

UPDATE: The official press release is now up.