Stephanie Stuart serves as the Vice President for Communications and External Affairs for Parkland College. Stephanie is a 2008 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Media and will earn her M.S. in Strategic Brand Communication from the University of Illinois in 2020. Stephanie started her career in technology public relations at Wolfram Research. In this role, she served as the primary media contact for the company globally, regularly interfacing with major mainstream and tech publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Mashable, The Verge, and TechCrunch.
In 2012, she made the transition into a more locally-focused role, becoming Director of Communications and Community Relations for Champaign Unit 4 School District in 2012. In this role, Stephanie led the District’s communications strategy for a $183 million school bond referendum that passed in 2016. In March 2017, she joined Parkland College as the Director of Marketing and Public Relations and in June 2018 was promoted to the role of Vice President. She now oversees three community-focused college units and heads the college's efforts surrounding entrepreneurship and government relations. Stephanie was named one of Central Illinois Business Magazine’s Forty Under 40 in 2014 and received a United Way of Champaign County Difference Maker Award the same year. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Champaign, serves on the Board of Directors of the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, and is a delegate to the Champaign County First advocacy group. She lives in Champaign, Illinois, with her husband, Dustin, and two young children, Harper and Lennox.