By Patrick Kelley
Jillian Daley, the Communications and Media Specialist in the College of Education, has been awarded a fellowship similar to the PSU Hatfield Fellowship following the completion of her Master of Public Administration in June 2020. The Hatfield Fellows Program affords each Fellow with an opportunity to acquire leadership skills with a public service agency in Oregon.
“The Hatfield program usually begins in July or September, so since this opportunity arose in December, or off-cycle, we’re calling it a PSU Public Service Fellowship,” Daley says. “But, details aside, the Fellowship is an ideal opportunity for me to leverage my communications skills and my Master of Public Administration in Nonprofit and Public Management to support our community’s businesses amid a worldwide health, safety and economic crisis.”
For the six-month placement, Daley will be working as the Grant Administrator with the City of Fairview. Her role will involve keeping senior management informed of changes to policy relating to the pandemic and to facilitate the execution of programs that support recovery for Fairview businesses and residents.
“I also just feel so very lucky during this difficult time,” she says. “I recall last year that there were more than two dozen Fellows, but this year there were only a few.”
Since starting in the COE communications position in April of 2019, Daley has written over 180 posts and stories to the COE Blog and media channels. She was a regular contributor to the COE’s Facebook and Twitter pages and offered internal writing and editing support. She also created the first COE Newsletter, The Educere, which is sent to faculty, staff, donors and alumni in the College.
“Of course, I will miss the meaningful work I did with the COE because the College supports equitable access to education, one of my greatest passions,” she says. “But it’s also important to note that I will personally miss my COE colleagues — including faculty, staff members and students — many of whom I now consider to be good friends.”
A journalist for 15 years, Daley’s last position was as the Assistant Editor and Education Reporter for the Lake Oswego Review. She returned to school to earn a master’s in 2017, a time when she also shifted her focus to communications, particularly in the nonprofit and public sectors. Her positions within the past few years have included not only her role with the COE but a PSU Oregon Summer Fellowship, a 10-week public service post she held in Washington County.
Daley’s Supervisor and Director of Student Services, Marketing and Communication, Patrick Kelley, states: “Jillian Daley is not only an exceptional writer and journalist, but she also took the time and consideration to understand the broader impact of the work we are doing in the College of Education to help create a just and equitable world. Her work went beyond the details and facts to include the human aspect of our impact on the world.”
