By Autumn Scully
Elm Staff Writer
Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven, the new Director of Communications, is the latest addition to Washington College’s Marketing and Communications team.
The role, much like the team itself, is something the College created recently. Vice President of Marketing and Communications Brian Speer was tasked with building a communications team when he started working at the College last August.
“It’s about trying to define the WC story and [being] consistent in how we tell it,” Speer said.
Speer sought a candidate with a strong writing background and experience working in many kinds of editorial communications positions.
Jolly-Van Bodegraven, who has been working in communications for the past 24 years, met these qualifications.
While he double majored in English with a concentration in journalism and an interdisciplinary major in Spanish and Political Science at the University of Delaware, Jolly-Van Bodegraven wrote for the college paper, UD Review.
After graduating, Jolly-Van Bodegraven worked as a reporter at The Intelligencer in north Philadelphia for five years.
“[Working as a reporter] gives you great experience with just writing and researching and getting things done,” Jolly-Van Bodegraven said.
Jolly-Van Bodegraven then worked on a civic education project at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also got a master’s degree in liberal arts. He found that he enjoyed working in a collegiate environment.
After working another job in fundraising communications for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Jolly-Van Bodegraven returned to a higher education setting and his alma mater at the University of Delaware as Director of Communications for their College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment.
While Jolly-Van Bodegraven held the same title at UD as he does in his current position at WC, the focus of his job there was on environmental programs and students rather than the college as a whole.
After working at UD for six years, Jolly-Van Bodegraven felt he was ready to take the step into a more involved communications position.
“The idea of being able to work the overall strategy made sense to me and felt like a nice move,” Jolly-Van Bodegraven said.
However, there was more to Jolly-Van Bodegraven’s decision to work for WC.
While he attended state schools for his undergrad and master’s programs, Jolly-Van Bodegraven always craved a liberal arts education environment and sought it out in his degrees.
“My heart has always been [in] a liberal arts approach,” Jolly Van-Bodegraven said. “I think it’s so valuable for people to learn a wide variety of things, to be exposed to lots of different people and ideas.”
In addition to WC being a liberal arts school, Jolly Van-Bodegraven was particularly interested in programs within the College such as the Center for Environment and Society, the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, and the Rose O’Neill Literary House.
“It really helps when you’re doing communications work to believe in and care about the thing that you’re working for, and that was tied into why I came here,” Jolly-Van Bodegraven said.
Jolly-Van Bodegraven’s passion for the opportunities at WC was not unnoticed by Speer during the hiring process.
“I thought that his interview made him a really good fit for Washington College and for what we’re trying to accomplish,” Speer said.
To carry out his vision for WC as the Director of Communications, Jolly-Van Bodegraven will lead the editorial team for the Marketing and Communications department that handles all the communicative work for the College. This includes work such as creating and updating content for the website and social media.
“Right now, my focus is on…building up a team that can achieve that level of impact, and really thinking about how we put together the right people and the right systems and things to facilitate the consistent storytelling centered around the themes that make WC the unique place that it is,” Jolly-Van Bodegraven said.
In the following months, Speer and Jolly-Van Bodegraven look forward to filling more positions in the Marketing and Communications department and even building a list of freelance writers to help best convey the WC story.
“It’s an exciting time to be at WC, so I’m happy to be here,” Jolly-Van Bodegraven said.
Elm Archive Photo
Photo Caption: Bunting Hall houses the majority of the College’s administrators, whom Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven will work closely with.