Osterthun Retires After 16 Years
Stu Osterthun, administrative director for marketing and communications, is retiring from Southeast Community College after 16 years of service effective May 17, 2024. His last day in the office was March 29.
Under Osterthun’s guidance, the Marketing & Communications Office has grown to include an associate director, additional graphic designers, a webmaster, and communications and social media specialists. In 2019 he led the College’s rebrand, working with SCC employees and Lincoln agency Firespring to develop a new logo, tagline, a brand and identity standards guide, and new-student recruitment plan. With SCC athletics expanding in the number of teams and having a presence on all three campuses, Osterthun worked with a core SCC committee and Lincoln agency Unanimous to create a mascot the entire College community could rally behind, unveiling the SCC Bobcats in August 2023.
Under his leadership, SCC has gone through two complete website redesigns and implemented a new Content Management System. SCC’s social media presence has also grown. The National Council for Marketing & Public Relations awarded the College’s Instagram account with a Gold Paragon Award, while the recruitment microsite, http://www.choosescc.com , was awarded a bronze in 2020.
SCC’s Alumni News also has undergone significant changes under Osterthun’s direction, going from a 17x11 two-color tri-fold to the current 24-page full-color magazine that goes to approximately 53,000 SCC alumni three times a year.
After graduating from Tecumseh High School, Osterthun attended Northwest Missouri State University and graduated in 1983 with a Journalism-Business degree. After a nine-year career in journalism, Osterthun began his career in higher education marketing/public relations at Cowley County Community College (Kansas). At age 32, he went back to school and earned a Master of Education degree from Southwestern College (Kansas).
Following a two-and-a-half-year stint at his alma mater, Northwest, Osterthun began working at SCC in January 2008.
In retirement, he plans to take in more of his grandchildren’s activities and devote more time to his numerous hobbies.
Jennifer Snyder
Communications Specialist
402-323-3393
jsnyder@southeast.edu