Melissa Bouse
Director of Public Relations
Northern Essex Community College
Haverhill, MA
In the three years Melissa Bouse has been at Northern Essex Community College (NECC), she has made meaningful, substantial impact to the college and its PR strategy.
She modernized its social media presence and strategy, developing and implementing best practices for the college’s official accounts and identifying opportunity and skills in those at the college who manage departmental accounts. As a result, all accounts have experienced double- or triple-digit growth in followers and in engagement. Bouse also authored the college’s first social media accessibility guide.
Stepping into her role as editor of the college’s semi-annual alumni magazine, Bouse has overseen an expansion in page count and a full graphic redesign, and she’s successfully championed strategic growth in circulation.
During the pandemic, Bouse launched a new public-interest podcast, NECC NOW, and served as its executive producer. She also produced a new cooking show featuring NECC’s culinary program. Bouse is NECC’s coordinator with the local community TV access provider, which broadcasts a number of high-profile NECC events.
In her day-to-day work, Bouse has successfully coordinated, written, pitched and placed feature stories nationally with CC Daily, Inside Higher Ed, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, NPR, MSN, ABC News, CBS News, the Scripps News network, and a variety of local and regional outlets.
She’s a complete team player and has earned the trust of the NECC president, serving him as a strategic adviser. Bouse has also completed Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training to better espouse the leadership characteristics critical to NECC’s high-performance culture.
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