The EEB department recently welcomed a familiar face into a new role. Rory Walsh, former Graduate Coordinator for the EEB Master’s Programs, was promoted internally to serve as the department’s communications and outreach specialist.

A summer video project featuring Frontiers students, initiated by Liliana Cortés Ortiz, sparked Rory’s interest in moving into communications. The project gave her a chance to combine creativity with something she already loves: hearing and sharing people’s stories. She especially appreciates how interviews, videos and profiles give people an opportunity to pause and reflect on how much they have changed and what they have accomplished.

“We’re thrilled to see Rory take the next step in her career within EEB, building on the relationships and knowledge she developed as a graduate student coordinator while putting her creative talents to work,” says Jen Wolff, Chief Administrator, EEB.

In her new role, Rory is excited to continue working with students while expanding her focus to undergraduates, faculty and staff. She hopes to shine a light on the people whose work often happens behind the scenes, including research staff in labs, at the museums and at the Edwin S. George Reserve, as well as the faculty who help make EEB such a supportive environment. “This new role allows me to use a lot more creativity,” she says.

Jen adds, “Rory is hitting the ground running with news stories and I am especially excited about her focus on videography, which will really bring the work our community is doing to life. Internal promotions allow us to recognize and retain talented colleagues while supporting their growth, and we’re fortunate to have Rory continuing to be part of the EEB community.”

For Rory, there has never been a five-year plan, and that has been part of the fun. She has followed opportunities, changed directions, met new people and collected experiences along the way. Her path, which routed from archaeology and a PhD in Anthropology, to student services and now communications, has been a natural progression of her interests and curiosity.

As a creative endeavor, Rory hosts a podcast and interviews students on the many paths one can take into research and academic positions in Korean Studies for the Nam Center. Drawing on her background in archaeology and food studies, she has also spent years working on a book exploring Korean food in its modern global context. The project grew out of a conference she co-chaired as a postdoctoral scholar at the Nam Center and brings together the work of nearly a dozen authors. She will discuss the book at a talk on Wednesday, September 30, from 6–7 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Downtown Library.

Given her interests and background, sharing the stories of EEB feels like a natural fit for Rory. “I think this is probably the coolest department you could be a communicator in,” she says. “The number of stories to tell here are infinite.”