The University of Maryland Eastern Shore has named Robert Vickers Jr. as its new vice president for strategic communications and marketing.
Vickers, who comes to UMES from the University of Rochester in New York, will serve as spokesperson for the university, in addition to being the chief communications officer for UMES President Heidi M. Anderson. Vickers, whose hiring was part of a national search for the newly created position, will start July 29.
“I think that Robert is the right person at the right time for UMES,” President Anderson said. “He has an impressive background as a journalist and a professor and he’s worked at a wide range of respected colleges and universities. He will complement the leadership team already in place and help us to continue to make the University of Maryland Eastern Shore a respected brand and a destination location.”
As vice president for strategic communications and marketing, Vickers will oversee integrated marketing responsibilities and external relations across the region and throughout the State of Maryland. He will also be an advocate for communications efforts focusing on the recruitment and retention of students and retaining positive relationships with alumni, donors, and other stakeholders.
“It’s a great honor to join the exceptional leadership team that President Anderson is building at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore,” Vickers said. “As a proud, second-generation HBCU graduate, I’m eager to share the dynamic UMES story, and help raise its profile throughout Maryland, across the country, and around the world.”
At the University of Rochester, Vickers previously served as chief communications officer and associate director of the university press. Prior to that, he was associate vice president for leadership communications for three years.
In those roles, Vickers crafted all strategic presidential communication, devised and implemented new intake and evaluation processes for all presidential engagements, and elevated university library communications and operation of the university press.
Vickers also served as the director of public relations at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he boosted the university’s profile, while overseeing communications, marketing, and media relations.
Prior to working at higher education institutions, Vickers spent more than a decade in print journalism writing for newspapers such as the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the Seattle Times. He also served as a legislative aide in the British Parliament to House of Commons member John Grogan in 2002, and on the board of directors for the National Association of Black Journalists from 1999-2001.
In addition to his journalism experience, Vickers also taught in the classroom as an associate professor of practice and assistant professor at Syracuse University from 2001-09 as well as a visiting lecturer at Australia’s Bond University in 2009. While at Syracuse, Vickers helped launch the Falk College of Sport & Human Dynamics, which offers advanced degrees in emerging growth fields such as global health, sport venue and event management, addiction studies, nutrition, exercise science, social work, and food studies.
Vickers earned his B.A. in journalism at Howard University; and his M.A. in international relations at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs.
