Office of Advancement
Queen's UniversityNews
- Shelley Aylesworth-Spink appointed as Executive Assistant
- New VP for Advancement
- Dr. D.R. Woolf Appointed as New Principal
- Principal's Financial Update
- Associate Vice-Principal (Alumni Relations) announced
- Executive Director (Development) announced
- Director, University Communications announced
- A Revitalized University Avenue
- Exuberant Crowd at Tindall Field Opening
- Alumni Directory Project update
- Senior Campaign Officer announced
- Chief Administrative Officer announced
- Executive Director, Marketing & Communications announced
- Executive Director of Development announced
- VP Advancement Search Committee
- Annalisa Boccia Named 2010 Heney Award Winner
- Peter Taylor Honoured with Flynn Award
- Tom Hewitt appointed as Chief Development Officer
- Linda Pearson appointed as Director, Gift Planning
- Advancement First Quarter 2011-12 Results
- Department Acknowledgement Program Takes Gold
- Relationship Mapping project awarded medal
- Advancement Second Quarter 2011-12 Results
- Advancement Third Quarter 2011-12 Results
- Advancement Fourth Quarter 2011-12 Results
- Fundraising Results 2011-12
- Queen's receives $41 million in support from benefactors
- Queen's community rallies around colleague
- K.Lo's Krew Tops Post Secondary Institutions
- Queen's Launches $500 Million Campaign
- Advancement First Quarter 2012-13 Results
- Advancement Second Quarter 2012-13 results
- December 2012 Fundraising Results
- Dr. Robert Reid 2012 Advancement Champion
- January 2013 Advancement Report
- February 2013 Advancement Report
Mark Kerr: Communications Officer sees similarities to journalism
Mark Kerr says working at Queen’s had always been a goal. “I was always checking the university’s Human Resources website, applying for jobs I thought fit my background,” he says with a smile. “You always hear how wonderful it is to work at Queen’s!” He got his chance in July 2010, when he landed a position as a Communications Officer with the Department of Marketing and Communications.
Before that, Kerr had spent two years with the Kingston EMC, a community newspaper, where he worked as a reporter. He had got his first taste for journalism, however, while studying political science and Canadian studies at McGill University (though he took two courses at Queen’s to finish up his degree). That’s when he began working on The McGill Tribute, one of the student newspapers.
Though he says there is no typical day, for Kerr the best thing about his job, which is focused on internal communications, is meeting lots of different people doing all kinds of interesting things
“I’d always had a passion for journalism,” Kerr explains. “I’d contemplated going to Carleton for journalism, but I thought I could get experience in the field.” And not long after completing his degree, that’s exactly what happened: he landed a job as a reporter with the community newspaper in Gananoque, where he spent two years.
For Kerr, working in communications has many similarities to working in journalism. “It’s a lot of the same stuff,” he says, explaining that his days involve interviewing students, faculty and staff, and writing stories to help promote their initiatives. Though he says there is no typical day, for Kerr the best thing about his job, which is focused on internal communications, is meeting lots of different people doing all kinds of interesting things. “Learning something new every day is pretty amazing,” he says.
Kerr, a father of three, grew up in Chaffey’s Lock, and knew he wanted to stay in the Kingston area when it came to raising a family. “It’s small and community based,” he says, “and there are lots of young families and interesting people to be around, and to be friends with.” But he likes the fact that Kingston is close to big urban centres, too, enabling him to do things like jet off to Montreal to see concerts (he recently went, for example, to see Arcade Fire play a live show).
For Kerr, what he loved about journalism is what keeps him busy at Queen’s: writing stories.
After all, he says with a smile, “there’s a new one to tell every day.”