Alma Mater Appoints Barks to Alumni Council

For immediate release                                  Contact:         Ed Barks
Monday, June 6, 2022                                                          (703) 533-0403
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The University of Southern Maine (USM) has named Ed Barks to its Alumni Engagement Council.

“I’ve been seeking a way to become more meaningfully involved with my alma mater for some time,” said Barks, a business author and President of Barks Communications.

“It’s a matter of giving back, so I’m pleased to be involved with encouraging the university’s former students to maintain their school ties as well as advancing possibilities for current students.”

Barks takes special interest in students who are first in their family to attend college. The son of a factory worker and a secretary, he was the first from his family to graduate, working his way through school as a radio broadcaster. He earned summa cum laude honors in 1983 in political science and economics.

The Portland-based university appointed him to a three-year term. The council, according to its website, “engages alumni through programs and perpetuates fellowship among the alumni and relationships between them and the University with a goal to unite all alumni in support of the University promoting its growth, progress and welfare and to enhance a lifelong connection to the University.”

“USM has proved invaluable to my career,” Barks said, while lauding the political science professors who guided him along the way in younger days. “Oliver Woshinsky, in particular, had a great influence on my career. He encouraged me to accept a Capitol Hill internship with Sen. George Mitchell. Decades later, I remain a proud Inside-the-Beltway creature.”

Ed Barks is an author and communications strategy consultant who works on extended engagements with Fortune 1000, Inc. 500, and association clients that want to refine their message and sharpen their executives’ communications skills. They gain an enhanced reputation, greater confidence, more opportunities for career advancement, and achievement of long-term business and public policy goals. He is the author of four books: Insider Strategies for the Confident Communicator, Reporters Don’t Hate You, A+ Strategies for C-Suite Communications, and The Truth About Public Speaking. As President of Barks Communications, he has taught more than 5500 spokespeople how to succeed when they deal with the media, deliver presentations, and advocate before policymakers.

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