By Dylan Bigelow / Jambar Contributor
Tim Harrington is no stranger to unsettled seas.
Even as Youngstown State University found itself navigating tumultuous waters after the controversial hiring of President Bill Johnson, Harrington, a retired Navy captain, did not hesitate to accept a position as Johnson’s special assistant.
“I came here because I love Youngstown State University,” Harrington said.
In January, as Johnson prepared to become YSU’s 10th president, he asked Harrington to join his administration. The two were acquainted during Harrington’s 25 years in the Navy and Johnson’s 13 years in Congress.
“I was on [Johnson’s] service academy committee,” Harrington said. “We had that relationship there, and he asked me to come on and work as his special assistant.”
The pair shared a geographic connection as well. Johnson’s sixth Congressional District included Harrington’s hometown. Harrington, a Salem native, graduated high school in 1984 and spent the next four years at YSU. He graduated in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in business.
“I worked three years in Kilcawley Center,” Harrington said. “I still know most of the nooks and crannies there.”
As a special assistant, Harrington said Johnson leaned on him for advice from his years of leadership experience. Over the summer, Harrington was selected to head the newly created Strategic Communications Office. His new role, he said, is to share YSU’s story with the public.
“We are, right now, the anchor university in Northeast Ohio,” Harrington said. “And we’re just gonna keep building on that.”
He said the office is working on an initiative called the Campus Communicators Network. The goal of the initiative is to create a “collaborative network” of those involved in communicating YSU’s story to the public, from social media and marketing to alumni and university relations.
“We want to be able to use best practices,” Harrington said. “We want to be able to have that network of people that are gonna be able to help each other get that information out.”
Another goal of the initiative is to direct people to the appropriate department when they need assistance or information.
“We also want to be able to tell people who’s who at YSU to make sure you’re coming to the right people,” Harrington said.
Harrington said his goal for the program is to eventually bring in experts from communication fields to help YSU elevate its communications.
“At the very strategic level, we can bring somebody in to help [YSU] at the tactical level,” Harrington said.
He said a time and date will be provided later, but he hopes to have an announcement event for the initiative around mid-October.
Harrington retired from the Navy in 2014. Before accepting the YSU position, he worked as the chief operating officer for BOC Water Hydraulics in Salem for nearly 10 years.
His military service took him all over the world, but in retirement, the same sense of service brought him home.
“I wanted to come back here,” Harrington said. “I retired from the military out of Hawaii. I could’ve taken two jobs there, and I came back to Northeast Ohio.”
Contact: Mr. Tim Harrington – (330) 941-3102 – tjharrington02@ysu.edu
