Comms Pro Helps Tell the Story of Kentucky’s Oldest University

Megan Moloney, vice president of marketing and communications at Transylvania University, recently received the Career Achievement Award from PRSA’s Thoroughbred Chapter. 

The award celebrates individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to excellence and have made significant contributions to the profession.

Moloney grew up in Lexington, Ky., home of Transylvania University (aka Transy), and was familiar with the school’s long history in the community. 

Before joining the university in 2018, Moloney had an extensive career in federal government communications, working with agencies such as the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the U.S. Secret Service and the White House. She also served as the press secretary for the government’s multidepartmental response to the Deepwater Horizon crisis in 2010. She began her career as a TV journalist.

Under her leadership in recent years, Transylvania’s marketing and communications team received one Best-of-Show and 14 Gold awards at the Educational Advertising Awards and the Collegiate Advertising Awards, among other accolades.

Here, Moloney discusses finding compelling stories to share and fostering collaboration and creativity within her comms team.

Congratulations on receiving the Chapter’s Career Achievement Award. What does this recognition mean to you personally and professionally?

I’m truly honored to be recognized, especially as it’s a full-circle moment, from my original membership in Miami University’s PRSSA Chapter to joining the award-winning PRSA Thoroughbred chapter. 

You joined Transylvania University in 2018. You previously worked as a journalist and in comms roles for the federal government. What appealed to you about a career in higher education?

I’ve spent nearly all my career telling stories. As a journalist, these stories informed the community. As a press officer and public affairs specialist, I not only helped journalists find and tell those same stories, but also directly engaged the public through digital and social media. Now, in higher education, our team is telling the story of Kentucky’s first university. 

The decision to join Transylvania is because it’s also part of my story. Transy has long been part of my family’s and Lexington’s history. A photo in my office shows my grandmother and the freshman class of 1926 standing on the steps of the building I now work in. My aunts, uncle and cousins all attended Transy. My nephew will graduate from Transy in 2026, 100 years after his great-grandmother arrived there. I’m honored to play a small part in sharing and growing the institution.

How did you approach expanding the university’s outreach and PR efforts upon your arrival?

I had interned or worked in nearly every newsroom in the Lexington market during high school and college, so I used those remaining connections (and there were quite a few) to visit and reintroduce myself when I joined Transy. I also looked at what we could do to tell our own story, changing the structure of our office to one that is content driven. 

We increased use of video and photography, while also creating a centralized news blog (transy.edu/1780) that drives our digital media engagement.

What strategies and resources do you recommend for discovering compelling and newsworthy stories on campus? How do you balance covering high-profile events with lesser known but equally important stories?

As we’ve expanded out our content-driven digital strategy, our team has worked to build relationships with faculty, staff, student organizations and individual students. Our office produces the daily campus events email, giving us a heads-up on all incoming events and updates. 

When something catches our writer’s eyes, we’ll reach out to write a blog story. We also accept guest blogs from the campus community. Because awareness of the blog and our digital outreach continues to grow, more stories make their way to us. 

What strategies have you found most effective in raising the university’s profile both in the community and nationally?

I like to keep an eye out for the unusual, the things that not every institution has or does. Every October, we host an event called PumpkinMania, where we invite the community to carve pumpkins that are placed on the massive front steps of our administration building. When full, there are more than 500 jack-o’-lanterns glowing on the steps. 

By sharing photos and video with news sites, we’ve seen national and international coverage of the event. It also helps at Halloween when your name is Transylvania. We’ve learned to lean into it!

How do you foster collaboration and creativity within your team?

I’ve embraced a “create once, publish everywhere” philosophy and encourage our team to do the same. For example, if we make a video, how can that supplement a blog or online magazine story? How can we use it in an admissions email or publication? 

When the work of each team member is intertwined with what others are doing, it helps build a goal-driven environment where everyone is invested in what each other is producing. 

What insights can you share with other university communicators about what you’ve learned at Transylvania?

It’s important to communicate the right message to the right audience in the right way. That’s going to mean different ways of storytelling, even though the key message — and your brand pillars — should be consistent across all the channels. Be strategic in the way you approach your communications and marketing but leave enough room to pivot as needed. 

As we enter a new school year, what issues/trends are catching your attention? 

The trends in higher education that are well-known, such as AI and the coming demographic cliff, are what most administrators are focusing on.

Prospective and current students, however, are seeking academic quality, affordability and positive outcomes. Finding a way to keep the focus on student needs, and their well-being and helping them effectively use technology is critical to navigating their college journey. As communicators, we need to make sure we’re consistent in helping them do so.