I have more than 20 years experience in PR and related communications work--media relations, newsletter and magazine writing and editing, website development, marketing/branding, event planning, crisis communications--you name it. Almost all of this work has been in the education/research sector--the University of Illinois Extension Service, followed by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois and now, the Renaissance Computing Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I've also done some consulting/freelance work on the side, mostly doing branding and website development for technology startups. I began my year as a newspaper re...