Dawn Skeete-Walker Named Associate Vice President of Communications and Marketing at SUNY Downstate
Jan 9, 2018
Brooklyn, NY— Dawn Skeete-Walker has joined SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University as associate vice president of communications and marketing, where she will be responsible for managing the communications/public relations and marketing efforts for both the academic and hospital sides of the institution. She brings expertise in the areas of government, nonprofit, and higher education to her new role.
The announcement was made by Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP, president of SUNY Downstate, who added, “I am very pleased that Dawn Skeete-Walker is now heading our communications and marketing initiatives. She brings a great breadth of experience to this position, as well as a thorough familiarity with Brooklyn and the people we serve.”
Most recently, she served as assistant vice president of communications and marketing at The City University of New York's Kingsborough Community College, where she handled crisis management, served as the College's spokesperson, and directed a comprehensive communications and public relations agenda including advertising and brand management.
Before joining Kingsborough, Dawn managed and directed special projects and media activities for The City University of New York's Office of University Relations. Working with any number of CUNY's 24 campuses, she managed public relations activities and special marketing/advertising campaigns.
Previously, she served as assistant vice president of communications and external relations for Medgar Evers College, where she built a strategic communications and media outreach program for the College. She concurrently served as executive director of the Medgar Evers Educational Foundation, with success leading advancement efforts to increase alumni, corporation, individual, and foundation giving.
Dawn served as a deputy press secretary to New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, where she managed portfolios for two deputy mayors focused on K-12 and higher education, youth and community development, public housing, and health and human services.
A SUNY graduate of Old Westbury, Dawn has served as a mayoral appointee to the NYC Department of Education Panel for Education Policy and as the ex-officio member of the board at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. She is a founding member of Women’s City Network, an organization focused on mentoring and engaging more women to enter careers in public service. She also serves as a trustee of the New York Foundation and, in 2017, became a member of the board of the College & Community Fellowship, an organization working with women returning from incarceration to enroll them in college. Most recently, she was appointed to the board of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Institute in Jackson, Mississippi, which works to preserve the legacy of the slain civil rights leader and his widow.
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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (SUNY) 64-campus system and the only SUNY AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough’s 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate’s exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.