Ron Menchaca
Vice President of Marketing and Communications
Ron Menchaca is the vice president of marketing and communications at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. He began this position in February 2023.
In this role, Menchaca serves as a member of the president's senior leadership team and directs the Office of Marketing and Communications, which is responsible for university marketing, social media, videography, photography, campus news, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Magazine, media relations, and crisis communications.
Menchaca is a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served as a paratrooper and radio communications specialist in the 82nd Airborne Division. Following his military service, he enrolled as an adult student at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, where he graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in communication, with a concentration in media studies.
Menchaca began a career in journalism in 1998 at The Post and Courier newspaper in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, S.C., where he won numerous state and national awards for investigative reporting, feature writing and breaking news. He co-wrote several major investigative pieces that led to government reforms, including a series on police officer misconduct, a probe into a fire that killed nine ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø firefighters and an examination of the state's aging fleet of school buses. He was named Journalist of the Year by the South Carolina Press Association in 2007.
In 2009, Menchaca returned to his alma mater to serve as director of executive communications and speechwriter in the Office of the President. He was promoted to senior director of communications in 2014 and moved to the College's Division of Marketing and Communications, where he led the creation of a campus newsroom and news website.
Menchaca has served on numerous campus committees and task forces, including the Staff Advisory Committee to the President, the 250th Anniversary Historical Documentation Committee and the Historical Review Taskforce.
A native of Oregon, Menchaca and his wife, Amy, live in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, S.C. Their youngest daughter is a student at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø and their oldest daughter graduated from the College in 2023.
Education
1998: B.A. in Communications - Media Studies (cum laude), ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
2023: B.A. in English - Creative Writing (cum laude), ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Career Highlights
2023-Present: Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Office of Marketing and Communications, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
2020-2023: Vice President of Communications, Office of University Communications, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
2018-2020: Executive Director of Communications, Division of Marketing and Communications, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
2014-2018: Senior Director of Communications, Division of Marketing and Communications, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
2009-2014: Director of Executive Communications, Office of the President, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
1998-2009: Reporter, The Post and Courier, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, S.C.
1996-1998: Freelance reporter; columnist
1992-1996: Paratrooper, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., U.S. Army
Honors and Achievements
2008: Alumnus of the Year, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Alumni Association
2007: Journalist of the Year, South Carolina Press Association
2006 & 2008: Taylor/Tomlin Award for Investigative Journalism, University of South Carolina
2006 & 2008: National Headliner Award for Investigative Journalism, Press Club of Atlantic City
2003: Distinguished Alumni Award, Department of Communication, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
1995: Army Commendation Medal, 82nd Airborne Division
1992: Army Airborne School, Fort Benning, Ga.