The UAB College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce Chris McCauley as the new director of communications, effective February 1, 2021.

An expert in strategic communications and project planning, McCauley comes to the College an experienced nonprofit director, communications specialist, project manager, and facilitator. After earning his master’s degree in public administration from Auburn University in 2009, he began his career with the David Mathews Center for Civic Life, a statewide nonprofit that promotes civic and community engagement in Alabama. While at the Center, McCauley developed numerous issue guides on complex issues ranging from early childhood development to prison reform.

Through his five years with the Center, McCauley worked in 49 counties and reached approximately 40,000 Alabamians. He moderated hundreds of forums and developed partnerships with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the Alabama Media Group, and numerous institutions of higher education.

McCauley left the Center in 2014 to join Markstein, a strategic communications agency in Birmingham. While at Markstein, he managed accounts for Shipt, the Alabama Power Foundation, the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the Alabama Media Group, Alabama Possible, and Building (it) Together. He specialized in strategic communications, corporate social responsibility, strategic planning, and community outreach. McCauley became a senior director at Markstein in 2018, and, later that year, he worked alongside TechAlabama to develop a three-year program plan for an initiative entitled Ed Farm.

Apple’s Community Education Initiative supported the Ed Farm program plan, and TechAlabama invited McCauley to launch the initiative. In one year, McCauley and his team launched three programs, co-designed a state-of-the-art facility, and hosted Tim Cook for a kickoff event that reached audiences across the world.

Soon after the launch, McCauley began consulting with numerous nonprofit organizations and coalitions across Alabama. He is co-chair for the World Games 2022 Community Engagement Committee and serves on the PARCA Roundtable with the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama.

“I am thrilled to welcome Chris to CAS and UAB,” says Kecia Thomas, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “He has accumulated an impressive portfolio of work—locally and globally—that will serve the College well. I look forward to working with him for years to come.”