Nancy Kerr

As with most of Champlain's faculty members, Nancy Kerr, Ph.D., APR, brings a wealth of industry experience to her classroom setting. She has spent her career teaching and working in the communications field, specifically in Broadcast and Public Relations. She holds a Ph.D. from Boston College, two Masters Degrees from Syracuse University and an undergraduate degree from University of Delaware.

For the last nine years, Kerr has worked at Champlain College as a Professor and Program Director for the Media Communication program where she oversees majors in Public Relations, Communication, Broadcast and Streaming Media, and Mass Communication.

Kerr also holds an APR certification which means she has successfully completed the oral and written examinations for Accreditation in Public Relations under the direction of the Universal Communication Accreditation Board. As the owner of Spinnaker Communications, a public relations firm specializing in public relations for non-profit organizations, Kerr is able to actively partner current industry work with what goes on in her classroom. Early in her career, Kerr worked in Public Relations on behalf of the Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce and the I Love New York campaign.

Prior to moving to Vermont, Kerr spent 13 years as the Division Chair of Communication and the Arts at Dean College in Massachusetts and seven years as a Communication faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh. Along the way she has worked in radio, on the air and as a news director, as well as having worked at several local television stations, directing and producing shows for local and national release. Several of her documentaries have aired on PBS and cable, such as Up, Up and Away, an hour long documentary about the history of hot air ballooning.

Kerr teaches a variety of courses at Champlain, including Media and Society, Principles of Public Relations, Writing for Public Relations, Public Relations Campaign Strategy, Issues in Public Relations, Communication Internship, and the Core Capstone in Communication. Connecting with the students in and outside of the classroom is what Kerr most enjoys about her work at Champlain.

TAGS: Broadcast & Streaming Media, Communication, Media Communications, Public Relations