MSOE recently promoted JoEllen Burdue to senior director of communications and media relations and Jill Meyer, Ph.D. to associate vice president of academic success and institutional effectiveness.

JoEllen Burdue
MSOE Leadership Team recently made the unanimous decision to promote Burdue to senior director of communications and media relations.

“This promotion is only fitting given JoEllen’s continued growth and long list of contributions to MSOE,” said Saj Thachenkary, vice president of marketing and community engagement.  

Burdue joined MSOE in 2008 as the director of media relations. She serves as a university spokesperson and media liaison for internal and external audiences. She has played an influential role in multiple campus initiatives and is responsible for directing the institutional voice of MSOE’s various communication channels including marketing collateral, social media, publications and newsletters. Additionally, Burdue serves as the editor of Dimensions, MSOE’s primary magazine.

This new promotion reflects Burdue’s many contributions to MSOE including serving as a member of the MSOE Strategic Plan implementation committee, Emergency Response Team, Raider Return Task Force and other campus committees as well as her leadership with the Marketing Communications team. She has built strong relationships with MSOE’s internal campus community and media partners. She serves as the university’s primary point of contact with the media and directs university communications in close consultation with the president and Leadership Team.

Recently, Burdue was selected to join TEMPO Milwaukee’s Emerging Women Leaders program. TEMPO Milwaukee launched the Emerging Women Leaders initiative to support the growing pool of professional women and potential TEMPO Milwaukee members who are mid-career and heading for the executive ranks. This group of rising stars and next-generation leaders is focused on programming, professional development, networking, mentoring, and volunteering for community organizations whose missions support women and girls.

Burdue earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and PR from Marquette University and her MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management. Prior to joining MSOE, she served as the communications specialist form American Society for Quality and the PR and marketing coordinator for Milwaukee Public Library.  

Jill Meyer
Meyer joined the MSOE staff in 2017 as assistant vice president of institutional effectiveness and was recently promoted to associate vice president of academic success and institutional effectiveness.

“This promotion is a recognition of Jill’s outstanding contributions to MSOE over the past three years, including her ability to lead important initiatives regarding student success and to help us build a culture of data-informed decision making,” said Dr. Eric Baumgartner, vice president of academics.  

In her new role, Meyer will manage units that impact academic success at MSOE: Institutional Effectiveness, CREATE Institute, Servant-Leadership, Registrar’s Office and Library. She also will provide oversight for the Raider Center for Academic Success in collaboration with Student Affairs.

Over the last year alone, Meyer has had an influential impact across campus by serving on numerous committees. She chaired the strategic plan’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Committee and finalized the KPI Dashboard, established and co-chaired the General Education Task Force, and became a member of the Enrollment Steering Committee. Meyer also developed, administered and analyzed campus-wide surveys to better understand student success and efforts towards MSOE’s Strategic Plan. She was invaluable as MSOE transitioned to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meyer is a key member of the academic leadership team at MSOE and also serves as the university’s accreditation liaison officer to the Higher Learning Commission. She is an active member in multiple organizations, including the American Association of University Women (AAUW), Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU) Strong Start to Finish (SSTF) Task Force, Higher Education Regional Alliance (HERA), and Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE).  Meyer also was an invited participant for the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) KEEN Framework Alignment Study. 

Meyer earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics and physics with a minor in computer science at St. Norbert College and went on to earn her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering, with an emphasis on orthopeadic biomechanics, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to joining MSOE, Meyer was executive director of institutional effectiveness at Mount Mary University; and an assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she helped to establish the biomedical engineering program.