Harmon '78 accepts position at Wesleyan

After 12 years as the University's director of communications, Justin Harmon '78 will leave May 1 to accept a position overseeing communications-related activities at Wesleyan University.

As the campus's outlet to the media, Harmon supervises the University's core publications — such as the Princeton Weekly Bulletin — and serves as its principal spokesman. Though Harmon's future title and responsibilities will closely resemble his at Princeton, he said that at Wesleyan he will report directly to president Douglas Bennet — a departure from his current role that will give him an outlet to weigh in on overall university policy.

"It's largely the same portfolio, with the main difference being that it's a smaller place and there are fewer administrators," Harmon said.

Comparing his new position to a "chief of communications," the former grade school teacher-turned-journalist said he would have a role that would allow him to interact with top-tier faculty and administrators at Wesleyan.

After being courted by Wesleyan for several weeks, Harmon said he decided to accept the position because he believed that after more than a decade of Princeton he could not pass up the opportunity.

"I have been in the communications office for 15 years, and have been the director for 12," Harmon said. "I think there is something to be said about change."

Other departure

In addition, the communications office will be losing another senior member of its staff — Sally Freedman, who for the past 12 years has served as the editor of the Princeton Weekly Bulletin.

Packing her bags this summer to move to Manchester, Vt., where her husband has accepted a job as a rabbi, Freedman said she is content to find a "new lifestyle" there.

"Working with the newspaper was wonderful because time and again when you are beat down, you go out and do an interview with some fascinating professor or student that really reminds you of why you are there," she said.

As the search for two replacements begins, Vice President for Public Affairs Bob Durkee '69 said he does not have any concrete plans for a nationwide search, but will attempt to "cast the net as wide as we can."

In his search for a new director of communications, Durkee said he will seek a "creative, resourceful and articulate person with a keen understanding of Princeton." Suggesting that a Princeton education might be a benefit to this end, he added that a fresh perspective is also important and that "at the end of the day, we are looking for the best qualified person."

If the search for Harmon's successor continues past May 1, the communications office most likely will operate without a director until Harmon's permanent replacement is found, according to Durkee. "I will just spend more of my time in the communications office and everyone else in the office will pitch in a little more as well," he said.

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Finding personnel as experienced as Harmon and Freedman may prove difficult, Durkee said.

Harmon said one highlight of his "gig" at the University was the 'Princeton Imposter' incident in which a 31-year-old man was admitted after fabricating his application.

"It turned out he was actually a felon on bail wanted by the Utah police for stealing bicycle frames," Harmon said. "Because it was Princeton and we were hoodwinked by this fellow, it was a national story."