Samuels named vice president of communication and marketing

A 1972 Lipscomb University graduate and most recently vice president of marketing communications for AmSurg Corp., Samuels brings a broad range of communications and marketing experience to the position including leadership roles in both the agency and corporate environments.

“The time is right to take this next step in Lipscomb’s growth,” Joseph M. Ivey, senior vice president for advancement, said in announcing the new position. “We have grown into a larger university with an ascending local, regional and national reputation that offers exceptional opportunities to share our unique student experience in intellectual challenge, spiritual pursuit and community involvement. The knowledge, skills and experience Ms. Samuels adds to our leadership team will be very influential as we pursue our strategic goals.”

Lipscomb’s enrollment has grown by 36 percent since 2006, including a jump in graduate enrollment of more than 300 percent. This fall’s record overall enrollment of 3,418 is up 12 percent from last year, Ivey said. Contributing to the increases are 16 new graduate programs, including Middle Tennessee’s first College of Pharmacy, seven undergraduate programs, and a $40 million investment to create a 21st Century learning community.

"As with any strong institution, Lipscomb continues to reinvent itself to deliver exceptional value to its student customers and its community," Samuels said. "I feel privileged and challenged to be asked to join this remarkable group of people as they creatively deliver a 21st-century education that holistically addresses intellectual, cultural, social and spiritual development for a lifetime."
Samuels graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. She has more than 30 years’ communications experience. Since coming to the Nashville market in 1980, she has served as director of marketing for Comdata as well as in creative and executive positions with The Buntin Group advertising and Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence (DVL) public relations, each among the area’s leading communications agencies in their respective areas.

Samuels’ professional and civic involvement includes past and present board positions with the CABLE women’s networking organization, the Nashville chapter of the American Marketing Association, the YWCA, Room in the Inn, and the Wayne Reed Christian Childcare Center.

In addition to its new academic programs, Lipscomb has been intentional about becoming more engaged with the community, creating programs that extend the university’s resources beyond campus, Ivey said. These programs include several institutes that provide ongoing training for professionals; “Reclaim Tomorrow,” a special program that provides services for job seekers; the “LIFE” program, offering for-credit courses to inmates at Tennessee Prison for Women; and the “SALT” program – Serving and Learning Together – which requires all new undergraduate to participate in academically relevant community service. Last year, Lipscomb students were engaged with more than 70 non-profit organizations in and around Nashville.

The outreach programs themselves have resulted in new opportunities for the university. The University of Tennessee School of Law recently reached an agreement in which its students may earn master’s degrees in conflict management through Lipscomb’s Institute for Conflict Management. Earlier this year, Lipscomb was chosen as Nashville’s Teach for America site, and university facilities are frequently used by organizations in and around Nashville, Ivey said. Lipscomb was recently listed in the top 15 of “up and coming” universities and the Top 25 of master’s degree universities in the South by U.S. News and World Report.