Memphis, Tenn. (July 11, 2013) – Sheila T. Champlin has been named the assistant vice chancellor for the Communications and Marketing Department at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), effective July 1. Since May 2006, she has served as director of the department, managing a staff of seven professionals and a variety of freelancers and consultants.
Hired by the leadership of the state’s only public academic health science facility with some 3,500 employees statewide, Champlin manages all internal and external communications and marketing. She is responsible for media relations, advertising, alumni publications, targeted social media campaigns, crisis management, collaboration with the Knoxville-based public relations team on UT system initiatives, and upholding the UT identity and graphic standards. Champlin works directly with C-suite leaders – the Chancellor, Executive Vice Chancellor/Chief Operations Officer, Deans and Vice Chancellors – in the development and execution of communications strategies and materials designed to meet the evolving needs of the organization. She collaborates closely with strategic business partners and handles a myriad of special projects.
The UTHSC Communications and Marketing Department serves the six colleges of the university and various departments with a full complement of marketing services that includes communications needs analysis and counseling; publication development, writing, layout, design and production supervision; online and social media campaign design and execution; plus video script writing, editing and production supervision. Champlin serves clients at all levels of the university and is a member of the Faculty Communications Committee. She is also a member of the UT Strategic Planning External Affairs/Communications and Marketing Task Force.
Champlin began her career in the financial district of New York City working for major money-center banks, Chase Manhattan and Irving Trust. Afterward she joined Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart, a leading international corporate and financial public relations agency, based in midtown Manhattan, where her clients included Seagram, Playtex International and American Express. She was subsequently hired to serve as a vice president and director of communications and marketing for such major corporations as Prudential Securities, AT&T Capital and Scholastic. Relocating to Memphis, she worked as a communications consultant for 10 years before joining UTHSC.
Champlin holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from St. Louis University, where she graduated summa cum laude. She was inducted into both Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit honor society, and Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest honor society for the liberal arts and sciences in the United States. Subsequently, Champlin earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She later served as a member of the national Alpha Sigma Nu Board of Directors for 10 years. Married to Michael S. Champlin, a local real estate attorney, they have one daughter, Paige.
As Tennessee’s only public, statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service. Offering a broad range of postgraduate and selected baccalaureate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. UTHSC also educates and trains cohorts of medicine, pharmacy and/or allied health students — in addition to medical residents and fellows — at its major sites in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville. Founded in 1911, during its more than 100 years, UT Health Science Center has educated and trained more than 56,000 health care professionals in academic settings and health care facilities across the state. For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.