Pam Ripley

A native of Kingsport and a rural resident of Church Hill, I am the Public Relations Specialist in University Relations, where I've worked since August 1985. I came to this division from an editorial staff position with National Forum: The Phi Kappa Phi Journal, which was then headquartered on the ETSU campus.

In the Office of University Relations, I'm something like a "utility player" in baseball, which means I occasionally don't know what I'm doing, but the job provides a diversity of opportunity. I write, edit, proofread, help coordinate the university's Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series, and work with off-campus centers and sites, just to name a few general tasks.

A summa cum laude journalism graduate of ETSU, I have also been a newspaper reporter, an elementary school teacher, a publications editor in industry, and Calamity Jane in a previous life (just kidding). I commute 60 miles daily -- not a great deal but more than enough -- and therefore do not look favorably on driving, and I mow the lawn so much that it's now a chore despised as well. I enjoy photography, but haven't taken a picture in months, and fishing, where I haven't been in years; love to read; and am blessed to wake up and look out on a little hillside farm in Hawkins County, Tennessee, every day of my life.