The D. Richard Petrizzo Award for Career Achievement honors a professional for career accomplishments in community college marketing and public relations. It is named after the award’s first recipient, a former NCMPR president who helped shape the organization in its early years. It is presented by the NCMPR board of directors at the national conference.
Heather McDorman
VP for Marketing, Pro. Dev't and Community Relations (ret.)
St. Charles Community College
Cottleville, MO
Over the course of 32 years in marketing and communications at St. Charles Community College, Heather McDorman cycled through a range of titles. When she retired in June 2021, her LinkedIn profile said “vice president for marketing, professional development and community relations.” Through the years and title changes, though, a constant remained: the appreciation she felt for her team.
“In communications, you’re typically a people person, so working alongside people you like and respect and admire their talents—what else could you ask for?” she says.
McDorman served as NCMPR’s president in 2010-11, and she was its 2019 national Communicator of the Year, which honors an NCMPR member who has demonstrated leadership and ability in the area of college communications.
An accomplishment she’s particularly proud of during her time with St. Charles is the set of rebranding projects she oversaw. The first rebrand, which helped her team and leadership better understand the brand’s strengths, included both updated visuals and a shift in how the college related to the extended community.
“Our work also resulted in image and recruitment comprehensive PR and advertising plans unlike anything we had attempted previously,” she says of the full-scale project.
The second rebranding—more of a “refresh” that included a new tagline, color palette and fonts—still serves the college today.
McDorman also reflects on the final large project she oversaw during her time at the college: A bond issue up for election. The issue passed, and St. Charles received funding to add a new workforce campus and existing campus renovations.
“Seeing that pass and the college be able to benefit from that—including students, student life, academics—it was a great note to end on,” she says.
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