Hunt Aspen Institute Fellow
Veronique Masterson, assistant vice president for marketing and communications with the Office of Institutional Advancement.
TTUHSC El Paso Assistant Vice President Named 2022 Woody and Gayle Hunt Aspen Institute Fellow
Veronique Masterson Recently Participated in the Aspen Institute’s Socrates Program
The Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation and the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program announced that Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso’s Veronique Masterson received the Woody and Gayle Hunt Aspen Institute Fellowship.
Masterson serves as assistant vice president for marketing and communications with the Office of Institutional Advancement at TTUHSC El Paso. The university is the only health sciences center on the U.S.-Mexico border designated as a Title V Hispanic-Serving Institution.
The Hunt Fellowship supports academic, civic, community and business leaders from the Borderplex region, allowing them to participate in the Aspen Institute’s highly respected seminars and conferences. Fellows interact with national and international leaders within their respective professional fields and bring a Borderplex perspective to discussions of national and global importance. Masterson participated in the institute’s Socrates program.
“I’m humbled and honored to have been selected and participate as a Hunt Aspen Fellow,” Masterson said. “I’ve dedicated my career to serving my community and improving higher education opportunities among Borderplex residents along the U.S.-Mexico border. Being part of the Socrates program allowed El Paso and TTUHSC El Paso to be part of a larger, national dialogue. The collective experience with my leadership peers was incredible.”
Masterson, a lifelong El Pasoan, holds a bachelor’s degree in electronic media from the University of Texas at El Paso and a master’s degree in strategic public relations from George Washington University. She has more than 17 years of experience in public relations, communications and marketing.
In her role as assistant vice president for marketing and communications, Masterson has underscored the university’s impact in addressing the health care shortage in the Borderplex through its successes in providing medical and dental health care to all in our community, especially underserved populations; and educating future doctors, nurses, dentists and researchers in the most innovative learning environments.
Her scope of work at TTUHSC El Paso has been wide and all-encompassing. Masterson manages and oversees the university’s academic and clinical marketing campaigns; and directs the university’s social media presence. She has also redesigned and launched the institution’s new clinical website and successfully launched the university’s first alumni magazine, serving as its editor-in-chief.
Masterson’s leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has ensured the success of the university’s communication to its own campus community and to residents of the Paso del Norte region. She has managed all internal and external communication, marketing campaigns, developed the university’s COVID-19 microsite, and played a key role in TTUHSC El Paso virtual commencements and other critical programming requiring virtual components. Thanks to her media relations strategy, TTUHSC El Paso faculty became local go-to experts, and the institution has been part of more than 300 COVID-19-related news stories locally and nationwide.
Under Masterson’s guidance and mentorship, TTUHSC El Paso’s marketing, communications and creative services work has been recognized by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), a global association for professionals in educational advancement. Her team are the recipients of multiple CASE District IV Accolades Awards for their work in communications, marketing improvement, magazine production, graphic design and photography.
The Aspen Institute’s Socrates Program annually provides a forum for emerging leaders to explore contemporary issues through expert-moderated dialogue. Masterson participated in the program’s “Critical Race Theory and James Baldwin” seminar in February, which focused on the writings of author and activist James Baldwin and explored the possibilities and limits of social change, the influence of emotion and affect on social and political structures, and more.
Masterson said the seminar gave her the opportunity to share examples of resilience of the Borderplex community with her peers. She also looks forward to continuing to learn from them and growing her leadership skills to better serve the TTUHSC El Paso and El Paso communities.
The Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation were among the founding funders of the Latinos and Society Program at the Aspen Institute with a $1 million gift. As part of that gift, the Aspen Institute has hosted journalism tours to the border region to help reporters truly understand life on the border, brought social entrepreneurs to the Borderplex to learn about investment opportunities in border business, and established the Woody and Gayle Hunt Aspen Fellowship to elevate leaders from the Borderplex in international conversation.
Fellows are provided funding as they join a global community network of innovators who build personal and professional connections and stay in touch over many years.
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