Marisa Quinn named director of federal relations at Brown University

Marisa A. Quinn, currently chief of communications and public information at the Rhode Island Department of Education, will become director of federal relations at Brown University in May.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Marisa A. Quinn, currently chief of communications and public information at the Rhode Island Department of Education, has been named director of federal relations at Brown University. She will begin her duties at Brown in early May.

Quinn will monitor the federal legislative process, communicate the University's views and objectives to elected officials and federal agencies, and serve as liaison between the federal government and Brown's faculty and administrators on issues of interest to the University. She will also be Brown's representative to several national educational associations of which Brown is a member.

"I am delighted to have Marisa Quinn join our public affairs staff," said Laura Freid, executive vice president for public affairs and University relations. "Marisa's experience with public agencies and her service as a legislative aide to Sen. Claiborne Pell will help her represent Brown effectively in Washington. Her special interest in communications will help keep our campus well-informed about developments in Congress and at the federal agencies."

At Brown Quinn joins the recently reorganized community and government relations team. Christine Heenan, former director of community and government relations, has taken on a new management role within public affairs and university relations, directing key elements of external affairs for the Brown School of Medicine and leading the public affairs and university relations consulting initiative. Jim Rooney, who served as Heenan's associate director, has been appointed director of community and government relations, responsible for relationships with state and local government.

Marisa Quinn

Marisa Quinn, a 1986 graduate of the University of Rhode Island (B.A., political science), earned a master's degree in political science and public policy at Rutgers in 1991. She began her career in public affairs in 1988 as a legislative aide to Sen. Claiborne Pell, then chairman of the Subcommittee on Education, Arts and the Humanities.

From May 1991 to May 1993, she was a policy adviser to New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, specializing in higher education, workforce development, science and technology and the economy. That led to a position as public affairs specialist with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where Quinn managed communications and served as the principal writer on a project to connect the Port Authority's three airports in a regional transit network.

Since March of 1996, Quinn has been with the Rhode Island Department of Education, where she has overall responsibility for communications to the public, news media, education community, and policy-makers in federal, state and local government.