NEWPORT, Ark. (10/6/2014) — Arkansas State University-Newport announced recently that Jeremy Shirley has been named as the Director of Marketing for the two-year college. Shirley will oversee all aspects of marketing for the college and its three campus locations in Newport, Jonesboro and Marked Tree.

A native of Sherwood, Ark., Shirley comes to ASU-Newport from KAIT-TV in Jonesboro, where he served as the Director of Marketing for over nine years. During his time at KAIT, Shirley and the KAIT Marketing staff received an ABC Alpha Award for best sports promotion, multiple Raycom Media Annie Awards and multiple American Advertising Federation Awards.

“I’m excited to be the Director of Marketing for ASU-Newport, and I’m energized by the growth of the college,” said Shirley.  “The team here is outstanding, and I hope that I can help be a part of future growth at ASU-Newport.

With an early desire to work in television, Shirley started running the camera at his local church in North Little Rock, and was the camera operator for the morning show at KATV Channel 7 in Little Rock prior to enrolling at Arkansas State University. He joined KAIT during college as a camera operator during the evening newscast, and after receiving his degree in Radio-Television, Shirley returned to Little Rock to work as an operations technician at KTHV, a video editor at Marketing Solutions, a project manager & interactive developer at Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods advertising agency and an editor at Arcom Productions.  He returned to Jonesboro and KAIT in 2004 as the Director of Marketing.

“After a very competitive search process which yielded many qualified applicants, Jeremy Shirley stood out as the clear-cut choice to lead our marketing efforts as we move to into the future,” said Adam Adair, ASUN Vice Chancellor for Fiscal Affairs. “He has a track record of high-level success in marketing and branding, and I am very confident he will lead our efforts in promoting ASU-Newport with more efficiency and effectiveness. We provide life-changing experiences at our three campus locations in Newport, Jonesboro and Marked Tree, and he is well prepared to lead us in conveying that message to the communities we serve.”

“We are poised for some very exciting advancements as we look to quickly respond to industry and community needs in the Northeast Arkansas region,” Adair continued. “Ensuring the ASU-Newport message is conveyed in our service areas is key for the future growth of our campuses. Jeremy is a welcome addition to the ASU-Newport family.”

Shirley currently resides in Paragould with his wife Tory, while his daughter Shayna attends college at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss.