Dennis O'Shea hasn't had a snow day in a very long time.
At least not the sort of snow days deemed by children and adults around the country as the "official snowman building, hot cocoa drinking, you know you've been hit when you feel something cold and wet running down your back' variety. Instead, O'Shea is bombarded not by snowballs, but by calls, e-mails, and faxes [in some cases all three] from distraught parents, anxious administrators and inquisitive journalists.
As the Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs at The Johns Hopkins University, O'Shea acts as a spokesperson for any and all affairs dealing with the central University administration and the Homewood campus. Therefore, unexpected snow days treasured and welcomed by so many find O'Shea and his staff of four at the Office of News and Information working even later than usual to make sure both the public and the administration are up to date with the latest news.
Yet O'Shea shrugs off these times as part of the job. "I can come into the office thinking one agenda and it can turn out to be completely different. You just have to keep on your toes and be proactive," he said, his feet propped slightly against the glass coffee table that lay between the imposing mahogany desk and the soft leather couches that lined his office. With the air of a man comfortable in the spotlight, he detailed his childhood and the path that led him to this position.
Growing up in Baltimore, near Roland Park, O'Shea has strong memories of Hopkins. "I came back to work here [Hopkins] because I felt I owed it for all those lacrosse games I snuck into as a kid" he laughed. Last month he celebrated his 13th anniversary on the job.
The public relations field was not always O'Shea's number one passion. He entered Williams College in 1973 with the notion of law school. "However, I wrote for the school paper and started pursuing journalism, and well, never ended up getting around to that [law school]," he said. O'Shea also managed his school's swim team, his passion for sports leading him to work in sports public relations at Bucknell University for three years proceeding graduation. After obtaining a masters degree from the prestigious Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern, O'Shea dove into the journalism world, reporting for United Press International in its Chicago, Indiana, New Jersey and finally Washington bureaus.
For O'Shea, the change from journalism to public relations, a very different aspect of the media world, was anything but a smooth transition. "I had to go through a grieving process," claimed O'Shea, who as a journalist dealt with aggressive public relations people daily. "However, higher education is something I can believe in and promote -- it's a lot different than say just representing Mobil; I feel it makes me more dedicated to be working for a non-profit," he said. While he still writes occasionally for Hopkins publications like the Gazette, nearly 80 percent of O'Shea's work is administrative, and he admits to times when he craves the chase that symbolizes a reporter on the prowl.
His journalistic instincts have not left his side, according to Alec Macgillis, the higher education reporter for the Baltimore Sun. Macgillis has worked with O'Shea on a professional level for the past two years. "Dennis O'Shea always has high news standards and is definitely one of the better PR people I have dealt with. He has a reporter's skepticism of exaggerations and doesn't bother me with puffy PR stuff that some others try to sell me," Macgillis said.
O'Shea sees Hopkins as not only a renowned research university, but as a major economic force due to the number of people it employs from the city of Baltimore as well as from around the entire state. "Hopkins is treated like part of the neighborhood, and therefore we are in very close ties with the local media," he said. When asked to comment on the intense media focus upon the University's medical prowess as opposed to its other highly ranked departments, O'Shea quoted a former Johns Hopkins president Steve Muller in stating, "Nobody ever died of English!"
O'Shea himself is always on the lookout for new interesting stories about the faculty and students to report and says what he loves most about his job is the atmosphere. "This place is full of fascinating people. I could spend all day doing fun exciting things, without doing my job," he confessed.
Heading a department comprised of several internal divisions and thirty-five staff members, with the common task of preserving and promoting a positive Hopkins image, can be very demanding and often times stressful. Yet O'Shea is described by his colleagues as very unbosslike and cheerful. One of O'Shea's employees claims that he is her favorite boss. She also confides, "He is pretty reserved, definitely not one to let his hair down."
When the director does steal away from his 'home away from home' where he handles issues like hurricanes, SARS inquires, and even a campus murder (back in 1996), he unwinds through reading and running. Having always had a strong interest in public affairs, he reads the paper daily and spends time with his 14-year-old son Aidan and 17-year-old daughter Caroline, who is now a freshman at Hamilton College.
O'Shea revealed that attending his daughter's freshman orientation gave him a very interesting look into another side of University life. Caroline is in fact working at Hamilton's Public Relations office and O'Shea has reluctantly promised to be a restrained parent.
