Alan Campbell, who was the associate director for marketing and communications at the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges District (EICC) before his retirement last year, has received the 2022 D. Richard Petrizzo Award for Career Achievement.
The prestigious award is presented by the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR).
Over the course of his 35-year career, Mr. Campbell worked with nearly every department at EICC.
“One does not need to look far to see just how many ways his talent and expertise have touched EICC,” Kristin Kollbaum, marketing and communications director at Northwest Iowa Community College, wrote in nominating Mr. Campbell. “From welcoming banners to the messages displayed on posters, to the eye-catching design of (the) magazine or beautiful shots shown in our commercials, nearly everything you read, see or hear about the EICC has Alan’s handprint on it.”
Mr. Campbell, who retired from EICC last July, is a Davenport resident.
He is a longtime supporter of NCMPR, serving as president in 2001-2002. That role kicked off at the 2001 national conference in March in Denver. Six months later, 9/11 happened – a week and a half before Campbell was to attend seven district conferences across the country.
“I was doing all that travel all over the country at a time when we’re making up all the rules at the airports, unsure what’s going on,” he said. “It made it difficult for us, for the organization. Denver was the biggest conference we’d ever had, and we thought the next would be the same.”
So at the start of the COVID pandemic, he had another experience in dealing with an impossible-to-predict crisis. He helped EICC navigate the pandemic during his final year on staff.
Over his 35 years, he said, COVID was the biggest challenge. “I’m very happy I was able to be there for that time and (help) before I retired,” he said. “It’s important to me.”
