Personal profile
About
Jennifer Lee Magas is currently an Assistant Professor at Nova Southeastern University, specializing in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in public relations, media law, social media, and communication in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts (DCMA). In addition to teaching communication courses, she is the faculty adviser for the university's student-run Public Relations Student Society of America and Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts’ social media platforms. For over two decades, Jennifer has also been proud to hold the title of co-owner and Vice President of Magas Media Consultants, a public relations agency started in the NYC area, specializing in media relations, media law, social media, crisis communications, financial services PR, influencer marketing, professional writing, and media training.
Additionally, Jennifer is a "recovering" Employment Law attorney for the HR department of Louis Dreyfus Commodities, an international commodity trading firm, where she handled the employee relations for 9,600 employees in the U.S. and Canada and was responsible for the development, writing, and effective communication and training of the Company's policies, procedures, and goals to employees.
With a career spanning over 25+ years and encompassing various roles, Jennifer has amassed a wealth of knowledge in all aspects of public relations and communications. Her diverse experience, including roles as a college professor, technical writer, journalist, trainer, entrepreneur, consultant, and attorney in a wide range of corporate, media outlets, legal, and university settings, is a testament to her deep understanding of the field. Jennifer is a first-generation college student who holds a BA in Literature and Creative Writing from Fairfield University, an MA in Technical and Professional Writing from Northeastern University with a focus on Legal Writing, and a JD from Suffolk University School of Law with a concentration on Higher Education Law and Employment Law. During her undergraduate and law school tenure, she worked for National Public Radio, represented low-income clients through Harvard Law School's Tenant Advocacy Project, was an Editor for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Legal History Journal, and was an Editor for her law school newspaper, Dicta.
With over 25 years of experience teaching, working, and serving on committees in various campus departments, Jennifer has been a dedicated mentor to many. Her collaborative work with staff, faculty, and students for assessment, teaching, training, programming, scheduling, marketing, writing, event planning, and policy and procedure development has left a lasting impact. Jennifer developed over 30 hands-on, real-world, in-person, online, hybrid, large lecture, and service-learning undergraduate and graduate courses. Her role as a mentor has been instrumental in the academic and professional growth of her students. She established and advised a student-run public relations agency and an Internation Association of Business Communicators chapter, managed multiple academic social media platforms and newsletters, and advised over 500 interns. Her teaching career includes many prestigious institutions, such as Texas Tech University, Fairfield University, Pace University, Northeastern University, Sacred Heart University, UCONN, and Yale, where she has been honored to receive several writing and teaching awards.
Jennifer is proud to have helped over 40,000 employees, interns, and students create professional job search documents such as resumes, cover letters, elevator speeches, portfolios, and LinkedIn profiles to obtain employment. She regularly speaks on writing, workplace, and PR topics, has spoken at many academic and industry conferences, and has been quoted or featured in over 200 articles and blogs. She has a husband, two teenagers, and a cat named Loki, "God of Mischief," who lives up to his name! Jennifer talks fast and wears many hats: professor, recovering attorney, writer, speaker, trainer, mom, PR strategist, nonprofit volunteer, marathoner, and Shark.
Education/Academic qualification
J.D. Education Law, Employment Law, and Legal Writing, The Role of Due Process in Higher Education and Student Discipline: The Difference in Public and Private Universities, Suffolk University Law School
… → 2001
M.A. Technical and Professional Writing, Developing, Designing, and Implementing an Undergraduate Legal Writing Course at Northeastern University, Northeastern University
… → 1998
B.A. Literature and Creative Writing, Fairfield University
… → 1996