Colleagues,
I am pleased to share that after a nationwide search in partnership with the executive search firm, Isaacson, Miller, Diana Lawrence will be the next vice chancellor for strategic communications, beginning June 2, 2025.
Diana is a strategic communications and marketing executive with decades of leadership experience in higher education. Previously, she held progressive roles at Dartmouth College, where she was the inaugural associate vice president for communications. At Dartmouth, Diana established and led a robust multichannel communications strategy, significantly increasing media visibility and digital engagement. She managed issues and crisis communications (including pandemic response efforts), led the planning for Dartmouth’s 250th anniversary celebration, and spearheaded initiatives such as an admissions podcast aimed at prospective students and families and a project focused on amplifying faculty expertise in top-tier media.
Prior to her time at Dartmouth, Diana served as director of communications at Vermont Academy and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, where she pioneered award-winning communications programs and successfully supported major fundraising and enrollment campaigns. She began her communications career with roles at United Way of Greater Toronto, Landmark College, Chatelaine magazine, and The Toronto Star.
She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Dartmouth and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Toronto, along with certification in digital marketing analytics from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Recognized with multiple CASE communications awards, Diana is passionate about storytelling, communications innovation, and building strong brands. She will lead a dedicated University Communications team as the campus seeks to centralize and optimize our marketing and communications functions. Throughout the interview process, I’ve been impressed not only by the depth of her expertise, but also her insightfulness, humor, and dynamism.
I’d like to thank the search committee members and committee chair Donna Heath, vice chancellor for information technology services, for their efforts in bringing this search to a successful conclusion; and Myla Edmond, interim vice chancellor for strategic communications, for capably leading the University Communications team this past year.
Dr. Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr.
