Four Strategic Communication Professors Recently Promoted
Columbia, Mo. (Sept. 9, 2017) — The strategic communication department at the Missouri School of Journalism is proud to announce that four faculty members were promoted this fall.
Cynthia Frisby was promoted to the academic rank of professor, and Brad Best, Jamie Flink, and Holly Higginbotham were all promoted to the academic rank of associate professor. The promotions took effect on Sept. 1.
- Cynthia Frisby has been a dedicated member of strategic communication for almost two decades. Her passion for research and her desire to refine and evaluate advertising messages is reflected in her teaching and inspires the same passions in the students she mentors. In 2002, Mizzou awarded her one of its highest teaching honors, the William T. Kemper Fellowship. Frisby earned her doctorate degree and her master’s degree from the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
- Jamie Flink has nearly 20 years of advertising account management and strategic planning experience serving national clients in the retail, restaurant and packaged goods industries. While at Barkley in Kansas City, she created successful communication strategies for national brands like Sonic, Payless ShoeSource and Blue Bunny Ice Cream during her career. Flink earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism in 1992 from the University of Kansas and joined the strategic communication faculty in 2012.
- Holly Higginbotham has taught at the Missouri School of Journalism since 2002. A 1989 graduate of the J-School, her passion for journalism began at a young age when she worked at a weekly newspaper owned by her family. Now, after working in the journalism industry and the corporate communications world, Higginbotham shares her experiences and knowledge with current journalism school students, teaching strategic communication courses that cover the principles of the field, public relations, campaigns and advising AAF Missouri and AdZou.
- Brad Best brings more than 15 years of advertising experience in media buying, planning and sales to his role in the strategic communication department. He served as Future’s Lab advertising editor at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, leading the Adobe Digital Analytics Competition and the News Publisher Digital Analytics Initiative. Best graduated from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville with a degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing.
Updated: October 23, 2020