If you’ve never met Dana Nunn, chances are you recognize her name from reading the paper or seeing her on TV. It’s even more likely for Colorado Mesa University (CMU) students and staff members of the last 20 years who regularly hang out on the south side of campus or check their on-campus email accounts.

After two decades of being the public’s link to the university, Nunn will retire from her position as director of media relations on August 31.

“Dana definitely has professional credibility with all entities, and that, with her understanding of deadlines, has made her effective in her position,” said CMU President Tim Foster. “She will be missed.”

All about the grit

Nunn became well acquainted with the “small, sleepy commuter school” that was then-Mesa State College when she was a reporter with the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. But her media career didn’t start there.

A Kansas native, Nunn arrived in Grand Junction in the early ’70s.

“I’d worked at a lot of places, but I just couldn’t find the right fit,” Nunn said. “When an acquaintance offered me a chance as a radio reporter, I found that I loved it.”

But the news was just a small part of radio, and Nunn was looking for something more to appease her “insatiable curiosity.”

It wasn’t a degree that eventually landed Nunn a job with the Sentinel; it was her investigative work and perseverance.

“I stumbled onto a pretty good story—fraud in a federally funded program,” she said. “If I shared the information with the paper, someone else would write the story and ultimately get the credit for it. So I partnered with Bob Silbernagel, a friend who worked for the paper, and we agreed that we’d jointly release the story at the same time in the Sentinel and on the radio station.”

The story got the attention of the Sentinel’s editor, and Nunn was hired as a staff reporter.

Foster recalled encounters with Nunn back in the day, and her grit as a reporter.

“She was a good, but tough reporter,” he said. “I was running for office at the time, and if Dana was the reporter who called me, I knew it was a serious story.”

Growing with the times

Nunn said going from news reporter to campus media professional was an interesting transition.

“There’s a different perception of time,” she said. “The news media definitely moves faster with deadlines. With academia, the pace is much slower.”

Nunn feels honored to have played a part in the evolution of Colorado Mesa University, getting to see it grow from a small commuter campus to a destination university.

“The school has doubled in size and added numerous programs where students can earn a certificate all the way through to a doctoral degree,” Nunn said. “Not many schools offer that range of opportunities.”

Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Mike Mansheim said Nunn has been instrumental in propelling the university forward.

“Dana has been integral to our communications effort in helping to grow CMU and our community college,” he said. “She brings that great wisdom to the job that you can’t train for. Her institutional memory, familiarity of the community and reporting skills have made her an asset to the university.”

Lessons from a pro

Nunn attributes her successful career to the skills she feels every media professional should possess, including building relationships and making sure information is delivered clearly and accurately.

“I’m a little old school,” she said. “I step away from the computer, email and my phone and talk to people face to face. They are more likely to share information with you if you can talk in person.”

She’s disheartened when she sees students who are so uncomfortable with direct communication or who are careless when it comes to ensuring the accuracy of the information they’re reporting. One of Nunn’s editors emphasized the importance of accurate reporting by saying, “If your mother says she loves you, then check it out.”

Nunn feels that social media and 24-hour news have played a big part in undermining the credibility of media because of the pressure to get information out to the public as soon as possible.

“Information, whether accurate or not, goes everywhere immediately,” she said. “News used to be reported daily at 5 and 10 p.m., and that was it.”

The next chapter

Although she’s looking forward to retirement, Nunn said she’ll miss the energy on campus.

“It’s easy to be around young adults,” she said. “They ooze energy and keep you young.”

She’s especially looking forward to exploring things she hasn’t had time for.

“But first, I’m getting a puppy,” she said. “He’s a boxer, and at this minute, he’s Nacho. I pick him up next week.”