MORRIS COUNTY — Melissa Albright, the vice president of marketing, public relations, and enrollment management at the County College of Morris (CCM), has been named the 2023 Rising Star by the National Council of Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR). The award recognizes an up-and-coming communication professional at a two-year college who has demonstrated creativity and ability in college marketing and public relations and has shown evidence of a promising future.
After two years in higher ed marketing leadership, Albright uses her relationship-building skills to help 25-year industry veterans grow. She has years of experience in the corporate world and as a middle school teacher, and the lessons from those items on her résumé help her in her current role. But it’s perhaps her time teaching special education helps the most, she says, both in her vice president duties and as an employee celebrating the success of community college students. Her seven years teaching special ed taught her a level of compassion and understanding not to put ceilings on any students she worked with, she says.
Albright prioritizes employee learning, speaking of one employee who has been with the college for a quarter century. She recently told Albright, “I’ve been doing my job for 25 years and doing it the same way for 25 years. I thought I was pretty good. Then you came along, and you invested in me. You’ve taught me to collaborate differently, and now I feel like I’m doing my best work.”
CCM recently was named one of 10 finalists for the Lumina Foundation’s Million Dollar Community College Challenge. As a finalist, CCM will receive $100,000, which it will use for a website redesign. Albright co-wrote the college’s submission and developed strategies for the challenge.
“She is also responsible for a huge morale boost within marketing and communications,” writes CCM president Anthony Iacono, who nominated Albright for the award. “Today, we have a team that is proud of their work, each other, and our college. Melissa has taught them their importance and value as people and professionals, and their results have exceeded anything we could have imagined.”
