Cora Zaletel is executive director of external affairs at Colorado State University-Pueblo where she oversees communications, marketing and community relations. Until this month, she also headed alumni operations, a function now moving to the institution's foundation. Previously, Zaletel directed educational programming and communications at the National Teachers Hall of Fame and directed university relations at Emporia State University, Kansas.

She earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Emporia State University, Kansas, and has completed all but her dissertation toward a doctorate in educational policy and leadership from the University of Kansas. An active member of CASE, she serves on the District VI board. Zaletel can be reached at cora.zaletel@colostate-pueblo.edu.

Despite shedding one major job function this spring, your professional plate looks full. What's going on at CSU?

We are in the midst of great change and growth right now under President Joseph Garcia. Since he arrived in 2006, he has established some very ambitious stretch goals for increasing our student enrollment, retention and graduation rates.

Many major projects are converging. This year, we are re-establishing three sports-football, wrestling and women's track and field. Construction projects include a sports arena renovation, a new stadium and student recreation center. We will be celebrating our 75th anniversary, and we will be launching a new campus Web site this spring.

A booster group believed the return of football could enrich student life, impact a stagnant enrollment, and help the local economy. How will football change your outreach to alumni and the community?

I don't know if anyone has ever rebirthed a football program in one year, but that's what we're doing. When President Garcia first arrived in 2006, he wasn't planning to bring back football, which was eliminated in 1984. However, his stretch goals dovetailed with those of a group of donors, Friends of Football, who had long advocated reinstating the football program.

Once the governing board approved the addition of the three sports in May 2007, things moved very quickly. Our football boosters raised $13.6 million to build ThunderBowl Stadium, slated to open in August.

It's great that we are bringing in a new alumni director at this time because football changes the whole alumni operation. For example, until now, we had to celebrate homecoming events around a soccer game. Football will bring in many more alumni to the campus for games and provide new avenues for engaging alumni.

Describe your approach to branding and promoting CSU.

When I started in 2002, I was doing both communications and fundraising as well as handling the alumni function. Since then, we have hired an executive director for our foundation and, as I mentioned earlier, have just moved the alumni position over to the foundation. I can now focus my attention on more pure communications and marketing.

It's fair to say that we are very thinly staffed. It's a challenge but one that brings me back to the thing I love about where I work. Because our staff is small (four people in communications and another five or six in alumni/development), it takes every one of us to accomplish whatever event or project we undertake.

Another reason I love what I do is that I'm the go-to person for both campus and community people who want to do things on campus. I thrive on that. People do come into our office for communications help. Whereas some campuses have five or six different offices doing communications, it's just us at our campus.

And because I am generally consulted about all communications matters, media relations, advertising and special events, it's easier to craft uniform messages and branding. I'm not running all these efforts, but I have a hand in them and can incorporate key messages and our brand.

What is your greatest challenge?

My wish is to be better able to plan strategically. I look to CASE for professional development and look to colleagues I can call. Sometimes it feels that we're just operating day to day, project to project. We don't often get a chance to sit down and evaluate a project-what went well, what didn't, and what we would like to do differently next time.

This article is from the April 2008 issue of BriefCASE.
Please share your questions and comments with Pam Russell via e-mail at russell@case.org or by telephone at +1-202-478-5680.