June 15, 1999

AWARD-WINNING PROFESSIONAL TO HEAD NJIT COMMUNICATIONS

NEWARK - June 15, 1999 -

     Saul K. Fenster, President of New Jersey Institute of Technology, has announced the appointment of Linda Holt, an award-winning communications executive from Bordentown, N.J., to the position of Executive Director of Communications.

     Holt comes to NJIT from Thomas Edison State College, where she served as Associate Vice President for College Relations and Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies. Holt graduated from Rider University, earned her Master's degree at California State University and is currently a doctoral candidate at Drew University.

     During nine years with Thomas Edison, Holt supervised a number of key college departments at different times, including Admissions, Financial Aid and Veterans' Affairs, Corporate Higher Education Programs, College Relations, Communications, Advertising, Publications and Special Events.. As Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies, she helped develop Thomas Edison's on-line Master of Arts degree in Professional Studies.

     At Thomas Edison, Holt led the development of several award-winning public relations initiatives, including a "Dear Abby" column which attracted 20,000 inquiries, international coverage of the award of a posthumous earned degree to Thomas Alva Edison, and selection of the college by Forbes as a Top 20 "cyber-university."

     Previously, Holt served as Director of Publications and Public Relations at Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) from 1980 to 1986, where she was a key player in the college's decision to raise standards and develop as a "public Ivy." She designed and implemented a media relations strategy that contributed to the college's top rankings in both Money magazine and Barron's.

     Holt has held staff leadership positions with the New Jersey State Assembly, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators; the New Jersey School Boards' Association, the New Jersey State Employees Association; and was a reporter and columnist at The Trentonian newspaper.

     The recipient of many communications honors, including national first-place awards for public relations, Holt also has taught public relations, speechwriting and technical writing and has lectured at the University of Innsbruck, Charles University in Prague and before the American Marketing Association. She has written numerous published papers and articles and is the author of a chapter in the new book, Seeing Through Symbols.

     NJIT is a public research university enrolling nearly 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 76 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, multimedia, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science.

     Yahoo! Internet Life magazine has ranked NJIT the "most wired" public university for two consecutive years, U.S. News and World Report's 1999 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT among the nation's top universities, and Money magazine's most recent issue of Best College Buys rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology schools and among the top 100 overall.