Higher education administrator and faculty member
Seasoned industry professional
Jonathan R. Slater, Ph.D., has been a full-time member of the SUNY Plattsburgh faculty for more than two decades. He also possesses a proven track record in the business and non-profit sectors.
ETHICS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Dr. Slater serves as director of the college's Institute for Ethics in Public Life. The Institute works to foster among faculty and students a capacity for justice, ethically engaged citizenship, and institutional action for the public good. Each semester, the Institute welcomes new Ethics Fellows from among the college faculty. Fellows participate in a program of guided inquiry and are joined by past Fellows at weekly colloquies. In his role at the Institute, Dr. Slater co-chaired the president's Social Justice Task Force and later chaired the Social Justice Advisory Council. He also the led the college's Free Speech Collaborative and now is a member of the President's Inclusiveness Excellence Council. Dr. Slater is himself a former Fellow of the Institute. He also served for three years as ex-officio member of the Public Relations Society of America's Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS). In addition, Dr. Slater has been part of a team of scholars and practitioners leading public relations students and young professionals in ethics master classes at international, national, and regional conferences.
JEWISH STUDIES
Director of campus's Jewish Studies Program, Dr. Slater coordinates the Jewish Studies minor and the Rabin Fellowship in Jewish Studies, which encourages full-time faculty to develop curriculum for the minor. He leads Plattsburgh State’s annual Days of Remembrance Holocaust commemoration and oversees the Douglas R. Skopp Creative Competition on the Theme of the Holocaust, held in the Douglas and Evelyne Skopp Holocaust Memorial Gallery in Feinberg Library. Feinberg houses the Rabbi Daniel Price '79 Book Collection along with the online Jewish Studies Research Guide. Dr. Slater also organizes the Douglas R. Skopp Visiting Scholars on the Theme of the Holocaust speaker series, which has hosted a number of scholars and experts on the Holocaust. Dr. Slater's own research in Jewish Studies focuses on the development of mass media and its role in the Jewish experience in the United States. In addition to his obligations to the academic program, Dr. Slater advises SUNY Plattsburgh's chapter of Hillel.
TEACHING
Dr. Slater is professor of public relations at SUNY Plattsburgh. Soon after joining the faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh, Dr. Slater developed the Public Relations program in the Department of Communication Studies. Later, he helped to merge the program into the Department of Journalism and Public Relations, where he now serves as department chair. Dr. Slater has taught a wide variety of courses in public relations and communication. He helped to establish Plattsburgh State’s PRSSA chapter, serving as its first faculty adviser and later as liaison for the school's chapter to the board of the Capital Region (NY) PRSA chapter. He also served for several years as first-round judge in the Bateman Case Study Competition, PRSSA’s national case study competition for public relations students. Dr. Slater led marketing and management courses in the institution’s former graduate program in administration and leadership, which bestowed upon him its Outstanding Faculty award. Dr. Slater is also a recent recipient of the Student Association William D. Laundry Special Service Award and past recipient of the Lambda Pi Eta communication honors society Outstanding Faculty award. He is a faculty associate of the college's Center for the Study of Canada.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Dr. Slater began his career as a publicist for The Jewish Theological Seminary and later founded and managed Adtech, an advertising and packaging localization firm in New York City. After the company was acquired, Dr. Slater became a partner in a start-up telecommunications venture and then worked for several years as a communication consultant to non-profit organizations and educational institutions. After moving north, Dr. Slater joined the team of economic development specialists at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Technical Assistance Center, where he created, administered and promoted publicly and privately funded projects in international business education, research and training. Mountain Lake PBS (WCFE) then asked Dr. Slater to become the station’s development director, where he doubled the station’s underwriter funding and oversaw the development staff in both the station’s Plattsburgh and Montréal offices.
RESEARCH
Dr. Slater’s articles over the years have appeared in such publications as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Business, Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies, Explorations in Media Ecology, the Journal of Eastern Townships Studies, Public Relations Society of America’s Tactics, and La revue des Amis de Charles de Foucauld. He has presented papers and offered short courses at meetings of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Educators’ Academy, the National Communication Association (NCA), Eastern Communication Association (ECA), Association of History, Literature, Science and Technology (AHLiST), Adirondack Research Consortium (ARC), Institute of General Semantics (IGS), the Media Ecology Association (MEA), Carleton University in Ottawa,St. Paul's College at the University of Manitoba, and the Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil in Québec.
EDUCATION
Dr. Slater received his Bachelor’s degree from Vassar College and went on to earn both a Master of Public Administration and Ph.D. in Media Ecology from New York University.
ETHICS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Dr. Slater serves as director of the college's Institute for Ethics in Public Life. The Institute works to foster among faculty and students a capacity for justice, ethically engaged citizenship, and institutional action for the public good. Each semester, the Institute welcomes new Ethics Fellows from among the college faculty. Fellows participate in a program of guided inquiry and are joined by past Fellows at weekly colloquies. In his role at the Institute, Dr. Slater co-chaired the president's Social Justice Task Force and later chaired the Social Justice Advisory Council. He also the led the college's Free Speech Collaborative and now is a member of the President's Inclusiveness Excellence Council. Dr. Slater is himself a former Fellow of the Institute. He also served for three years as ex-officio member of the Public Relations Society of America's Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS). In addition, Dr. Slater has been part of a team of scholars and practitioners leading public relations students and young professionals in ethics master classes at international, national, and regional conferences.
JEWISH STUDIES
Director of campus's Jewish Studies Program, Dr. Slater coordinates the Jewish Studies minor and the Rabin Fellowship in Jewish Studies, which encourages full-time faculty to develop curriculum for the minor. He leads Plattsburgh State’s annual Days of Remembrance Holocaust commemoration and oversees the Douglas R. Skopp Creative Competition on the Theme of the Holocaust, held in the Douglas and Evelyne Skopp Holocaust Memorial Gallery in Feinberg Library. Feinberg houses the Rabbi Daniel Price '79 Book Collection along with the online Jewish Studies Research Guide. Dr. Slater also organizes the Douglas R. Skopp Visiting Scholars on the Theme of the Holocaust speaker series, which has hosted a number of scholars and experts on the Holocaust. Dr. Slater's own research in Jewish Studies focuses on the development of mass media and its role in the Jewish experience in the United States. In addition to his obligations to the academic program, Dr. Slater advises SUNY Plattsburgh's chapter of Hillel.
TEACHING
Dr. Slater is professor of public relations at SUNY Plattsburgh. Soon after joining the faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh, Dr. Slater developed the Public Relations program in the Department of Communication Studies. Later, he helped to merge the program into the Department of Journalism and Public Relations, where he now serves as department chair. Dr. Slater has taught a wide variety of courses in public relations and communication. He helped to establish Plattsburgh State’s PRSSA chapter, serving as its first faculty adviser and later as liaison for the school's chapter to the board of the Capital Region (NY) PRSA chapter. He also served for several years as first-round judge in the Bateman Case Study Competition, PRSSA’s national case study competition for public relations students. Dr. Slater led marketing and management courses in the institution’s former graduate program in administration and leadership, which bestowed upon him its Outstanding Faculty award. Dr. Slater is also a recent recipient of the Student Association William D. Laundry Special Service Award and past recipient of the Lambda Pi Eta communication honors society Outstanding Faculty award. He is a faculty associate of the college's Center for the Study of Canada.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Dr. Slater began his career as a publicist for The Jewish Theological Seminary and later founded and managed Adtech, an advertising and packaging localization firm in New York City. After the company was acquired, Dr. Slater became a partner in a start-up telecommunications venture and then worked for several years as a communication consultant to non-profit organizations and educational institutions. After moving north, Dr. Slater joined the team of economic development specialists at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Technical Assistance Center, where he created, administered and promoted publicly and privately funded projects in international business education, research and training. Mountain Lake PBS (WCFE) then asked Dr. Slater to become the station’s development director, where he doubled the station’s underwriter funding and oversaw the development staff in both the station’s Plattsburgh and Montréal offices.
RESEARCH
Dr. Slater’s articles over the years have appeared in such publications as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Business, Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies, Explorations in Media Ecology, the Journal of Eastern Townships Studies, Public Relations Society of America’s Tactics, and La revue des Amis de Charles de Foucauld. He has presented papers and offered short courses at meetings of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Educators’ Academy, the National Communication Association (NCA), Eastern Communication Association (ECA), Association of History, Literature, Science and Technology (AHLiST), Adirondack Research Consortium (ARC), Institute of General Semantics (IGS), the Media Ecology Association (MEA), Carleton University in Ottawa,St. Paul's College at the University of Manitoba, and the Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil in Québec.
EDUCATION
Dr. Slater received his Bachelor’s degree from Vassar College and went on to earn both a Master of Public Administration and Ph.D. in Media Ecology from New York University.