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$SIU School of Medicine\$

	Public Affairs Bios
	Nancy S. Zimmers, director of public affairs, is responsible for communications, public relations and media relations for all aspects of the School. She joined the staff as assistant director of public affairs in June 1978 and was named director in 1982. She previously was on the public relations staff at Northwestern University, St. Cloud State University and University of Iowa and has accumulated 30-plus years of public relations experience. She received her bachelor's in journalism and a master's in education at the University of Iowa (1971, 1973). She has a strong background in public relations, as a practitioner, teacher and consultant. She was one of the founding members of the local chapter of Association of Women in Communications and served as chapter president. In 2002, she was awarded AWC's first Communicator of the Year award. She also has been active in the Association of American Medical Colleges' Group Institutional Advancement and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. She has been a part-time instructor in communications at University of Illinois at Springfield.
	Ruth Slottag, APR, media coordinator, is responsible for coordinating media requests, writing news releases and feature stories, producing "NewsLine," the School's weekly radio news program, organizing photography resources, and other public relations activities and projects. She joined the public affairs staff in August 2001 and has more than 20 years experience working in public relations, promotion and advertising. She previously directed public relations activities for the Illinois Association of Park Districts and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and held public relations and communications positions in the Quad Cities, Rockford and Peoria. She received her bachelor's in speech communication from Western Illinois University (1970) and her master's in communication from the University of Illinois at Springfield (1995). She is a past president of the Central Illinois Chapter Public Relations Society of America. In 2002, she received the National Charlotte Danstrom Award in the academic category, presented by Women in Mangement.
	Merle E. Shiffman, communications coordinator, is responsible for various community outreach activities including arranging tours and speakers, producing the employee newsletter, building the office's web page resources and other projects. She joined the public affairs staff in October 2000 after spending seven years as managing director of the Springfield Ballet Company where she was responsible for public relations, marketing, development and special events planning. Previously, she spent two years as a marketing/editorial assistant at University of Illinois at Springfield and five years as a kindergarten teacher's aide. She received her bachelor's in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana (1972) and her master's in communications from the University of Illinois at Springfield (1994). She is a member of Association of Women in Communication, and sits on the board of the Springfield Public Schools Foundation and the Springfield Ballet Company.