C of O fills top PR spot with Evangel assistant

Valorie Coleman is going home – again. After serving three years as assistant director of public relations at her alma mater, Evangel University, College of the Ozarks tapped the decade-long Branson resident as its public relations director, effective Jan. 2.

Coleman replaces Elizabeth Hughes, who tendered her resignation in September after 10 years with the Point Lookout college. Hughes created RE-Hughes & Co. LLC on Oct. 2 as a vehicle to work as an author and publicist. Hughes recently released her first project, a children’s book called “Tom the Turkey’s Road to Freedom.”

At C of O, Coleman will oversee the public relations office, which coordinates more than 12,000 guests annually, according to a news release.
 
“I am amazed by the number of visitors the college hosts each year,” Coleman said in the release. “People have such respect for the unique vision and goals of College of the Ozarks – goals which emphasize hard work, Christian values and patriotism.”
 
Coleman is a 1993 Evangel graduate with a bachelor’s in communications and an emphasis in journalism. In addition to her post at Evangel, she’s worked in the Ozarks for 23 years, including a five-year stint as an editor in the Christian higher education division of the national office for the Assemblies of God.
 
Dubbed “Hard Work U” by the Wall Street Journal in 1973, C of O is committed to eliminating student debt through its mandatory work-study program. The school has an annual student enrollment of roughly 1,500 students and employs around 250, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.[[In-content Ad]]