By Anne Baker
In an effort to restructure Northeastern’s external affairs, President Joseph Aoun announced the appointment of two new senior officials Friday afternoon.
Carol Scheman, vice president for external affairs at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, will start Nov. 1 as senior vice president for external affairs. This is a new position at Northeastern, said interim university spokesperson Jim Chiavelli.
Michael Armini, assistant dean for communications at Harvard Law School, will start as vice president of marketing and communications Oct. 14, a position that has been vacant since Brian Kenny left the university last spring.
In her position, Scheman will integrate Northeastern’s relations with the world outside the university, including marketing, communications, government relations and community outreach, Chiavelli said in a statement.
“I think [the creation of the position] says a lot about where Northeastern wants to go,” Scheman said in an interview with The News. “The position of the institution as world-wide and more world-involved required it to have a clear voice.”
Scheman will be the university’s sixth senior vice president. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston University and has a Master’s Degree of Science in social administration from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, Chiavelli said. She has also served as vice president for government, community and public affairs at the University of Pennsylvania; deputy commissioner for external affairs at the US Food and Drug Administration; and vice president of the Association of American Universities, the release said.
Scheman said the university plays a pivotal role in communication between the community and students.
“I think that a university does have an important role in helping students become more of a part of a community,” she said, and it should work to help address the underlying issues between these, she said.
Both positions were appointed by President Aoun and approved by the university’s Board of Trustees Thursday afternoon, Chiavelli said.
Armini said Aoun was one of the biggest reasons he came to Northeastern.
“We spent quite a bit of time talking about ideas,” Armini said. “[We talked] about his vision for the university. The more time I spent with him, the more enticing the position became.”
Armini said he earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and holds a master’s degree in communication studies from Emerson College. He has previously worked as director of communications for the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Chiavelli said, and also worked in Washington as a congressional press secretary.
Armini said Northeastern’s status as an up and coming school was appealing.
“There’s more excitement and forward momentum at Northeastern right now than any other university in this area,” he said. “I think what sets it apart is the volume of activity and excitement there.”
Robert Gittens, vice president for public affairs, will now work in an expanded role, “serving as the university’s senior representative and enhancing our wide variety of relationships in the nonprofit, academic and professional sectors,” Chiavelli said.
