Joe Donzelli, APR

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Associate Director / Senior Writer, Media Relations
Division of Public Relations and Marketing and Creative Services
3301 College Ave. Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33314-7796
Phone: 954-262-2159
Twitter: @NSU_Joe

Joe Donzelli is an associate director of media relations in Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) Division of Public Relations, Marketing, and Creative Services. As such, he provides media relations and marketing support for various colleges and programs, including NSU’s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences (home to the National Coral Reef Institute, the Guy Harvey Research Institute and the Save our Seas Shark Research Center, to mention a few). In addition, he serves as the departmental liaison with the NSU’s Student Veterans group and NSU Athletics.

Since coming on board with NSU, Donzelli has been part of several university-wide projects, involved with both event planning and media relations. One example is the eMerge Americas Conference, an annual international technology exchange where Donzelli helped lead NSU’s inaugural foray into the event, serving on the main planning committee as well as several sub-committees responsible for NSU’s presence on the international stage.

Donzelli has also worked on unique media outreach projects, many times being the sole individual responsible for the development and implementation. One such project was the Shark Race to the White House, where he worked with NSU’s Guy Harvey Research Institute director to use two tagged mako sharks to predict the winner of the 2016 Presidential Election.

Before joining the NSU family, Donzelli was the director of communications and printing services for the School District of Lee County, Florida (Fort Myers,) which is the ninth-largest public school system in the state and 40th largest in America. Before that, he was a communications specialist with the School District of Broward County, Florida (Fort Lauderdale) where he co-led the internal and external communication efforts for the nation's sixth-largest public school system. And prior to that, Donzelli was an assistant reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

Donzelli has extensive experience serving as the main spokesperson for media interaction, including crisis communication. He has received numerous certifications in the area of crisis and emergency communications, preparedness, communications and information management, resource management and incident command from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA.) He is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the Great Fort Lauderdale Chapter of PRSA, the South Florida Media Coalition and the Southeast Regional Domestic Security Task Force.

Donzelli holds a B.A in Communications from Florida Atlantic University (where he wrote for FAU's student newspaper) and received his Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) certification. He is also a proud graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.