Shirley Melikian Armbruster, associate vice president for University Communications and Integrated Marketing at Fresno State, was elected chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ (AASCU) Advisory Council for Communications and Public Affairs.

The council, which is composed of chief communications officers from member institutions, assists AASCU’s Division of Communications by offering campus- and system-based perspectives on the effectiveness of AASCU’s communications, marketing and public affairs programs. The group encourages support for communications initiatives that promote AASCU colleges and universities. The council also sponsors an annual conference for senior public relations and marketing leadership from member institutions.

AASCU is a Washington, D.C.-based higher education association of more than 400 public colleges, universities and systems in which members share a learning- and teaching-centered culture, a historic commitment to underserved student populations and a dedication to research and creativity that advances their regions’ economic progress and cultural development.