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Dear Members of the NJCU Community:

 

Earlier this month, Dr. Henderson announced Sherrie Madia’s departure from NJCU to become a senior member of the leadership team at Holy Family University in Philadelphia. Her last day is July 31.

 

I am pleased to share with you that two talented members of the NJCU community, Faith Jackson and Ira Thor, will play key roles in building upon the fine work we have come to expect from our Marketing and Communications department.

 

Faith Jackson, who has proven to be an exceptional professional and adept manager, will become NJCU’s Interim Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications, effective August 3, 2020. She will replace Sherrie Madia and will become a senior member of the University Advancement leadership team under Jason Kroll. Faith will have full management responsibilities for the Office of Marketing and Communications and will continue to work directly with Enrollment Management and Academic Affairs on marketing initiatives and brand strategy.

 

Ira Thor will fill the slot vacated by Faith to become Interim Senior Director of University Communications and Media Relations also effective August 3, 2020.

 

Ira will bring his considerable communications skills to a role re-shaped to focus on university communications. He will serve as the media relations spokesperson for the university and will work directly with the President and her senior leadership team on all internal and external executive communications.

 

Faith has served as NJCU’s Senior Director of Enrollment Marketing and Brand Strategy for the past year. She managed the first sustained yearlong external marketing campaign to help elevate the university's brand and reputation and improve the quality and quantity of undergraduate and graduate applicants. As part of her work, she developed a strong collaborative relationship between the Office of Marketing and Communications and Enrollment Management, which helped us increase our first-year applications and exceed summer enrollment targets.

 

Prior to joining NJCU, Faith was the Director of Communications at Drew University, where she led the day-to-day work of the creative, web and project management staff. Their award-winning work led to many successes, including a notable 44% rise in undergraduate enrollment over four years. Before her time at Drew, Faith held positions of increasing responsibility in the central communications offices at Rutgers and Kean universities, where she developed her talents in strategic communications planning, project management, and content production. Faith is a proud product of public higher education, having earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Hunter College of the City University of New York and her master’s degree in communication and information from Rutgers.

 

Ira will be joining Faith’s team. As many of you know, he has been at NJCU for more than 20 years, most recently serving as Assistant Director of Athletics for Strategic Communications. In that capacity, he has been responsible for all aspects of athletics media relations and communications. He revolutionized the University’s athletic communications efforts, in particular with launching the athletics website and multiple social media channels, while introducing GothicVision, NJCU’s athletics broadcast platform. He also dramatically increased the department’s media exposure and publicity efforts, securing placement for NJCU student-athletes and coaches on national news channels such as CBS, ESPN, and FOX Sports, as well as print and online publications such as Sports Illustrated and NCAASports.com.

 

Outside of NJCU, Ira is a regionally and nationally recognized sports information leader. He served as the fourth President of D3SIDA, the Division III governing body of the College Sports Information Directors of America, from 2015-17, the CoSIDA Board of Directors from 2014-17 and the final Chair of the College Division Management Advisory Council. He has been the Press Box Announcer for the New York Giants since 2014 and the Crew Chief/Head Statistician for the New York Jets since 2018. Having begun his career in broadcasting and print news media, Ira held positions at the Bergen Record, WQHT-FM 97.1 radio (HOT 97), and others. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communications from William Paterson University and is currently working to complete his M.B.A. at NJCU.

 

Please join me in wishing Sherrie the best in her new job and in congratulating Faith and Ira on their new positions.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jason Kroll
Vice President for Advancement and Chief Strategy Officer
University Advancement and Strategic Initiatives