NOVA Welcomes Sara Collins, New Director of Comms & Enrollment Marketing!
Sara Collins has joined Northern Virginia Community College as the new director of communications and enrollment marketing, a newly combined department comprising the offices of communications & visual services, marketing, graphics and web services. Sara’s steady leadership will drive these functions forward together to better serve the students, faculty and staff of NOVA.
Sara comes to us after several years as manager of internal communications for Palladium, an international development firm in Washington, D.C. From 2017 to 2021 she was a senior communications consultant for Duke Energy at Catawba Nuclear Station in York, S.C., and from 2013 to 2016 she served as director of communications for Charlotte Works in Charlotte, N.C. There, she worked with NOVA’s now VP of Strategy, Research and Workforce Innovation Steve Partridge, who Sara describes as “one of the best managers I have had in my career.” After learning from Steve how to think more strategically (Sara says she’s “very tactical by nature”), she was excited by the opportunity to work with and continue to learn from him.
In Sara’s words, “My career has yo-yoed between for profit and nonprofit, large companies and small, internal and external communications. So clearly, I like variety. I’ve worked in philanthropy, retail, corporate, commercial, construction, healthcare, advocacy, workforce development, nuclear power generation and international development, so I was excited to add higher ed to that mix.”
For the past two years, Sara has concentrated on internal and leadership communications, and she was pleased for the opportunity to shift some of her focus back to external comms.
Both Sara’s parents were teachers in their early careers, and they instilled in her a craving for lifelong learning. According to Sara, “If you don’t learn something new every day, you’re not living right. Coming to work for an organization whose sole purpose is education is thrilling.”
As for her communications philosophy, Sara says, “I believe in the power and beauty of communications. Information is power. When people have the right information, they understand how they fit into an organization’s big picture, and how they can contribute to the organization’s success in a way that also contributes to their own personal success. Clear, concise, compelling communication provides people — employees, donors, volunteers, business partners, policy makers, the public — with information to take action. And now I can add students and faculty to that list.”
She is most looking forward to getting to know her new team, which she has been told by multiple people is amazing; getting to know NOVA; and figuring out the most efficient, effective and creative ways for the team to best support the institution. About meeting (almost) everyone on the team for the first time, Sara says, “It was both fun and nerve-racking. Each person was friendly and welcoming, and seemed to take note of the hint I dropped about being a cheap date and doing anything for dark chocolate.”
Raised in Charleston, W.V., where she lived until the summer before her senior year in high school, Sara moved with her family to Fairborn, Ohio, outside Dayton. After finishing high school, she went to college in Charlotte, N.C., where she stayed for 31 years.
During her spare time, Sara loves to read; she splits her time tackling the embarrassing number of books purchased (but not yet read) that fill both her nightstands and then some and the equally embarrassing backlog of the few magazines she reads cover to cover each issue. She enjoys traveling, too, saying, “I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about traveling and have a huge bucket list of trips to be planned!”
Regarding her affinity for reading, writing and all things words, Sara has this to say: “I always have been, and always will be, a dork, and I have two separate lists of grammar jokes hanging in my office. So if anyone wants to talk grammar or communications, come visit. But be warned: I loathe the Oxford comma, so don’t even start that fight with me.…”
NOVA’s communications and marketing teams are so very pleased to welcome Sara to the ranks. We are excited for the great things we will achieve under her leadership!
Submitted by:
Kathy Thompson, Assoc. Director of Internal Comms., KAThompson@nvcc.edu