Eastern Michigan University names Kraft vice president for communications
Via email from Pam Young:
YPSILANTI – Eastern Michigan University has named Walter Kraft as its new vice president for communications, pending approval by the Board of Regents. The appointment is effective August 10, 2009.
More after the break. To be honest, I don’t know enough about all this to know how I feel about it. I am always a little dubious of people coming into these kinds of positions from the “real world” instead of academia, but I guess I’ll give this person the benefit of doubt.
“I’m pleased that Walter will be joining Eastern Michigan,” said Susan Martin, president of EMU. “His knowledge of the media landscape locally and nationally, and his background as a leading communications executive in the region will help us tell the stories of Eastern’s impact in Michigan. He brings energy and passion to the position and will help us to effectively communicate the excellent education, accessibility and programs Eastern Michigan University provides.”
Kraft said, “Eastern Michigan University plays a vital role among Michigan’s universities. Given the economic and education environment we are in, it is more important today than ever before to provide thoughtful and intelligent information about the University and its programs. I’m looking forward to working with Dr. Martin and the entire Eastern Michigan team.”
Kraft has been executive vice president of Caponigro Public Relations in Southfield, Mich., since 2002. His experience includes working with clients in education, health care, banking and transportation where his responsibilities included leading media relations efforts, strategic planning, crisis management and a wide range of external and internal communications activities. Kraft started at Caponigro as a vice president in 1998. He was named senior vice president in 2000.
From 1992 – 1997, Kraft was news director at WXYZ-TV7 in Detroit, where he was responsible for day-to-day editorial coverage and supervised a staff of 100. During his time at WXYZ, he created award-winning special projects/ investigative units, which won several national awards including the Alfred I. DuPont Columbia University Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. Prior to his work as news director, he was a writer and producer at the station and earned three Detroit Emmy Awards.
He received a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from Michigan State University.
Kraft has been active in several community organizations. He is on the board
of the Mental Health Association in Michigan and is past board chair and current advisory board member of Volunteer Impact. Previous board involvement includes Habitat for Humanity-Detroit, the American Red Cross of Southeastern Michigan and the International Association of Business Communicators. He also is a graduate of Leadership Detroit.Kraft, who currently lives in Berkley, has three children. His salary will be $160,000.
Funny! The real world. Where are you guys from?
I think you know what I mean. It’s not that higher education isn’t in “the real world,” but it also isn’t a business, despite the efforts of the Board of Regents and selected suits and legislators and such to make it more “business-like.” And good communication/PR moves in the for-profit/business world do not always translate smoothly into good communication/PR moves in the academic world.
I don’t really want to rehash this for all sorts of reasons I assume are obvious, but I think a lot of the administration’s failure in handling the Laura Dickinson murder circled around a fundamentally misguided approach to communication. In the “real world” of business, it’s more possible to lock down information, and that “circle the wagons and say nothing of significance” is the approach that both Vick and Fallon took. That obviously didn’t work out.
By the way, I heard that Kraft is not coming to this job solo. As I understand it, he is also bringing with him what was described to me as a “high-priced” assistant. Because, you know, EMU can afford to hire more folks in those kinds of positions nowadays. I don’t know if this is actually true or not, but if it is, I suppose we’ll hear some kind of announcement about it in the coming weeks.
The sky is the limit for salaries for the top administrators. I am surprised that Kraft didn’t come from UofM. With the budget crisis looming they need to get these people on board with thier big salary before they start lowering the boom on everyone else. You heard it first at emutalk.org.