Kelsey

Miller

Feature Story
Scott Ketelsen is the newly named director of University Relations at the University

of Northern Iowa. Ketelsen has worked at UNI for six months. He started his job on
September 16, 2013. He was previously employed in Cedar Rapids at a private company; he
then worked at Kirkwood Community College and also at the University of Iowa in Iowa
City. While working at the University of Iowa, Ketelsen loved his job. However, he is a
graduate from the University of Northern Iowa. Ketelsen stated, When the position at UNI
opened up, I applied and I was fortunate enough to get it! I had to jump through some
hoops but eventually things worked out how they were supposed to. He also stated, It
took me thirty years to get back here, and to put it succinctly I have always been doing the
right job, I just havent been at the right university.
While working at the University of Iowa, Ketelsen only attended two football games,
both of which were when UNI played at Kinnick Stadium and says you can see where his
priorities are. Ketelsen says that he loves his position, he has always been appreciated at
his past jobs, but he loves Cedar Falls. Ketelsen was a sophomore at UNI when the Public
Relations major was launched. While attending UNI, Ketelsen was a Resident Assistant in
Noehren Hall. He met his wife in the dorms, and he is now a UNI Alumni member.
The position that Ketelsen holds at UNI requires him to manage University Relations
as well as Public Relations, Media Relations, and Institutional Advertising. He is the official
spokesperson for the university. He must consult with the presidents office on speech
writing and communications. Ketelsen said, I like to think of our department as the
communications hub for campus. They produce collateral materials for the college and

make posters and work with admissions materials. They create everything that is sent out
to high school seniors. The department staff makes anything that is purple and gold for
advertising purposes. They also work hand in hand with www.uni.edu and web support.
Ketelsen is spending a lot of time and working hard with President Bill Ruud (who is also
new) to develop a paid advertising campaign because the university did not have one in the
past.
An average workday for Ketelsen consists of standard set meetings that usually take
all morning. He has six or seven set meetings each week. He meets with the marketing
team, the PR team, and the web team. He has many papers that need his signature for each
department. He encounters some difficulties on the job like stereotypical issues. UNI is the
smallest of the public universities but is still a big operation. UNI has lots of audiences
internally and externally such as faculty and staff, over 12,000 students, and the
communities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo. Ketelsen has a big challenge when dealing with
the media. He says he has to be careful when giving them information. He must craft his
answers in a way that is politically correct and factual for the local newspaper as well as
television and radio stations across the region. Despite the challenges, Ketelsen really loves
his job; he says, I truly believe that I am adding value to the University of Northern Iowa.