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SOU marketer ready to make it big She hopes to see results in 6 months By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- Kathryn Bazylewicz knows there's a lot of weight on her slim shoulders. As the new marketing and public relations director for Southern Oregon University, she's expected to garner big-time recognition for the small-town college. "It's a little overwhelming," she said. "But I've done it before and it was successful." Bazylewicz, 34, began work last week. In recognition of a new funding formula that bases state college spending on student enrollment, the university's old news service office was abolished to make way for the marketing and public relations office. President Stephen Reno said he chose Bazylewicz to lead the marketing effort because of her marketing expertise, ability to work with diverse groups and strong desire to live in Southern Oregon. Bazylewicz -- who has 10 years experience in marketing and public relations -- took a pay cut to come to SOU. "This has always been my dream," she explained. For the last five years, Bazylewicz served as executive director of marketing and operations at the Michigan State University Consortium for Osteopathic Graduate Medical Education and Training in East Lansing, Mich. Her duties included traveling around the country recruiting interns for the 16 hospitals in the consortium. Over a five-year period she raised the number of medical students selecting one of the consortium hospitals by 121 percent. Bazylewicz said she expects to have the same positive impact at SOU. "Hopefully, they'll start seeing a small difference in six months and we'll build from there," she said. She'll start by developing SOU's marketing plan. She'll use focus groups, surveys, and research from various sources to figure out the "baseline" data for the university. After she's "gotten the pulse," she'll work with staff and faculty to define the goals and and determine what the university's message will be. "We're too fragmented now," she said. "I ask different people what it is and I get different answers." She said her biggest challenge will be "coordinating the message and working on the common theme" among the various schools at the university. She said a unified vision is important because it lets students know why they should attend SOU. "I would just like to get where people recognize the quality of Southern and know what our values are," she said. Bazylewicz knows that some SOU staff and faculty have discounted the need for marketing in a university, but in her mind it is simply an "organized systematic way of operating." She believes her marketing plan eventually will attract more students, high-quality faculty and bigger donations "...and overall create a happier and more secure environment for everyone in it." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA