Newsroom > News > Press Releases > DePaul University names Linda Blakley vice president for the Office of Public Relations and Communications

DePaul University names Linda Blakley vice president for the Office of Public Relations and Communications

February 1, 2016 / Posted in: University News / Twitter / Facebook

Main Content

​​​CHICAGO — DePaul University has selected Linda Blakley, an accomplished communications professional, as the next vice president for the Office of Public Relations and Communications. She will assume her new role April 1. 

Blakley, the current assistant vice president for the OPRC, oversees the development and implementation of communications strategies for DePaul. Her leadership stems from more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications and public relations in the areas of higher education, retail, manufacturing and public utilities. She joined DePaul in 2013. 

“Linda already serves as a key member of the strategic leadership team, providing counsel and communications strategy for a range of issues,” said the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University. “Throughout her time at DePaul and her career she has gained the high respect of communications professionals across the field of public relations. I am thrilled to have her insight and expertise in our senior administration.”

Prior to DePaul, Blakley served as executive director at GolinHarris from 2010 to 2013. She served as senior manager of corporate communications and later as senior director of PR & brand reputation at Walmart from 2004 to 2010.  She held several communications positions with progressively increased responsibilities in her 16 years with Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Blakley earned both a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University. 

“My belief in the DePaul mission is rooted in my lived experience growing up facing many of the same challenges as the first-generation students DePaul serves so well.  The story of DePaul’s mission and impact deserves great storytelling,” Blakley said. “And I am honored that this new role allows me to tell it.”

As vice president, Blakley will serve as the university’s spokesperson and oversee the development, implementation and evaluation of strategic public relations and communications for DePaul. The department includes public relations, issues management and crisis communications, media relations, internal communications, executive communications and visual services. For more information about the OPRC, visit https://offices.depaul.edu/public-relations-communications/Pages/default.aspx.

With more than 23,500 students and about 300 academic programs, DePaul is the largest Catholic university in the United States and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest. It is nationally recognized for incorporating service learning throughout its curriculum and preparing its graduates for a global economy.
 
DePaul was founded in Chicago in 1898 by the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), a Roman Catholic religious community dedicated to following the ideals of St. Vincent de Paul, the 17th century priest for whom the university is named. DePaul’s tradition of providing a quality education to students from a broad range of backgrounds, with particular attention to first-generation students, has resulted in one of the nation’s most diverse student bodies. More information is available at www.depaul.edu.

###

Media Contact:

Jon Cecero

jcecero@depaul.edu​

312-362-7640