Elizabeth Young

Biography

Elizabeth Young currently serves as Associate Vice President at Carthage College, overseeing the Office of Marketing and Communications. 

With a keen focus on supporting recruitment, enrollment, fundraising, retention, and engagement, Elizabeth spearheads the College’s marketing and communications initiatives, guiding a talented team of nine professional designers, writers, and media experts. Elizabeth and her team execute hundreds of projects each year that drive interest in Carthage’s many undergraduate and graduate offerings, support the College’s broader strategic goals, and bolster the College’s reputation in the region as a leading institution of higher education.

In her capacity as Associate Vice President, Elizabeth oversees all marketing projects, directs the production of communication materials, serves as chief public relations officer and college spokesperson, and manages and coordinates crisis communications. She leads the overall direction and vision for the Carthage brand, advertising campaigns, and website and social media strategies. In addition, she and her team support internal communications and event communication needs.

Elizabeth joined the Carthage staff in April 2009 after 13 years working as a writer and editor in the newspaper industry. She was named Executive Director for Marketing and Communications at Carthage in 2016, before being named Associate Vice President in 2018. She took over leadership of the Marketing and Communications Office in 2019. She holds a degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

Under Elizabeth’s leadership, the Office of Marketing and Communications has:

• Successfully executed complex communications for major College initiatives including a tuition reset in 2019; #StaySafeCarthage procedures during COVID-19; a restructuring of academic departments in 2020; and a complete rebrand of Carthage Athletics with a new team name and mascot in 2021.
• Revamped our approach to paid advertising, developing an annual plan that raises awareness and drives conversions while remaining flexible to meet evolving needs and target specific audiences.
• Introduced innovative new pieces to our recruitment marketing, contributing to the College’s record undergraduate applications, deposits, and incoming class size in recent years. 
• Developed and executed marketing plans that contributed to the successful launch of multiple new academic and co-curricular programs including nursing, engineering, The Aspire Program, Esports, the new School of Business and Economics, and master’s degrees in Sports Management and Business Design and Innovation.
• The Carthage website has been honored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the College and University Public Relations and Associated Professionals (CUPRAP), and EDU Digital Marketing Awards. Elizabeth was honored in 2016 with a national CASE V Gold Platinum Award for Best Article of the Year. See awards.

Elizabeth and her team also lead campaign communications for the Office of Advancement. 

Prior to coming to Carthage, Elizabeth was an award-winning feature writer, features editor, and special sections editor at The Journal Times in Racine, Wis. There, she managed the newspaper’s magazines and specialty publications; coordinated reporting efforts among editorial staff and community contributors; and supervised a team of writers, editors, and designers to produce daily feature sections covering lifestyle, health, and education news. 

While in newspapers, she received national awards from the Inland Press Association for Best Staff-Written Blog, Best Special Section, and Best Education/Career Section. She was nominated for two Lee Enterprises President’s Awards for Innovation and News, and received the JC Sturtevant Memorial Award for the State’s Best Community Journalism Project from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. She was recognized with numerous state awards in writing, page design, and editing from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.

Elizabeth lives in Racine, Wisconsin.