Award-winning Maine broadcast journalist and news anchor Tory Ryden has been named strategic advisor and director of external affairs for the University of Maine System (UMS), effective Jan. 16.
Ryden has more than 35 years of on-air experience, most recently at WCSH News Center Maine in Portland, where she has been a news anchor, reporter and special news series producer since 2016. Her broadcast career includes anchoring and reporting at television stations in Boston, Bangor and Jacksonville, Florida, and serving as creator and executive producer of “Positively Maine with Tory Ryden” on WGAN radio in South Portland.
She has served as director of communications and media relations for Philbrook Public Relations in Westbrook; senior director of communications and marketing for Saint Joseph’s College of Maine; and director of marketing, community relations and development for Parkview Adventist Medical Center in Brunswick.
Ryden’s journalism awards include New England Emmys, Edward R. Murrow, duPont-Columbia, Associated Press and Maine Association of Broadcasters. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Providence College.
“Tory’s more than three decades of experience in journalism and deep knowledge of Maine will benefit the University of Maine System, and its universities and law school,” says Chancellor Dannel Malloy. “She knows communication is a two-way street and will listen to key constituents and engage with them, our students, their families and our other many stakeholders in Maine and beyond.
As UMS strategic advisor and director of external affairs, Ryden will report to Chancellor Malloy and work with senior university leadership to develop and implement a comprehensive program to engage key constituencies and maximize communication related to the System. As a member of the Chancellor’s Cabinet, Ryden will lead communications, marketing, events, outreach, media and publications, public relations and advocacy to develop and implement the mission and vision for UMS and public higher education in Maine. She also will work in collaboration with UMS presidents and senior campus leaders with responsibility for university and media relations, marketing and advocacy and take a lead in telling the important stories about the difference Maine public higher education makes.
About the University of Maine System
Established in 1968, the University of Maine System (UMS) unites seven Maine’s distinctive public universities, comprising 10 campuses and numerous centers, in the common purpose of providing quality higher education while delivering on its traditional tripartite mission of teaching, research, and public service.
In 2020 UMS became the first and only statewide enterprise of public higher education in the country to transition to a unified accreditation for the system. Much different than a merger or consolidation, unified accreditation is a new operating model for the University of Maine System that removes the primary barrier to inter-institutional collaboration.
A comprehensive public institution of higher education, UMS serves more than 30,000 students annually and is supported by the efforts of more than 2,000 full-time and part-time faculty, more than 3,000 regular full-time and part-time staff, and a complement of part-time temporary (adjunct) faculty.
Reaching more than 500,000 people annually through educational and cultural offerings, the University of Maine System also benefits from more than two-thirds of its alumni population residing within the state; more than 123,000 individuals.
The System consists of seven main campuses: The University of Maine (UMaine), including its regional campus the University of Maine at Machias (UMaine Machias); the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA); the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF); the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK), the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI); and the University of Southern Maine (USM). The System also includes a UMA campus in Bangor, USM campuses in Gorham and Lewiston-Auburn, the University of Maine School of Law, and the University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center.
Please follow these links to the UMS Logo, UMS and individual university style guides and an image and biographical information for Chancellor Malloy.
