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Laura Martinez Massie

Laura Martinez Massie began her duties as director of media relations at The University of Akron on May 1, 2009. She came to UA after more than seven years at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where she was senior news and information specialist and director of media relations.

In her role at UA, Laura is responsible for directing and managing news and public relations for the university. She leads a team of public relations professionals who strive to enhance the university's reputation and visibility locally, nationally and internationally in traditional and new media. Massie performs spokesperson and crisis communication management duties, as well as oversees story development.

Laura has more than 20 years of proven performance in media relations management, strategic brand and public awareness program development, and project and team management. Her primary focus has been in the fields of higher education, public policy, nonprofit organizations and public safety. Prior to her time with Case Western Reserve University, Massie was a public and media relations administrator for the Ohio Board of Regents and a public relations coordinator for George Mason University. She also spent more than three years in public affairs and advocating traffic safety for the Washington, D.C. area and Cleveland-area chapters of the American Automobile Association (AAA). Massie is an alumna of Ohio University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism.

In her spare time, Laura enjoys watching Cleveland Indians baseball (when they're not trading away their stars) and Browns football, summer barbecues with friends and family, playing cornhole, hanging out with her 13-year-old Persian cat, Ginger, and reading nonfiction books such as biographies of historical and political figures. Born in Laredo, Texas, she grew up mostly in the Lake Erie towns of Sandusky and Ashtabula, Ohio, and is an avid Great Lakes shipwreck history buff.