Jeffrey Perkins, who has held senior-level communications positions at higher education institutions in Boston, New York and Los Angeles, has been appointed vice president of communications and marketing at Bennington College. In his new role, he will oversee all aspects of Bennington's branding and marketing, media relations, internal communications and leadership communications, President Laura Walker said.
“As an MFA alum, Jeffrey deeply appreciates what makes Bennington so special and has devoted his life to the study and practice of effective storytelling,” Walker said. “It is with sincere enthusiasm that I welcome Jeffrey back to Bennington, this time to lead our communications and marketing strategy.”
Perkins joins Bennington from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, where he served as vice president of communications and marketing. Prior to that, he held communications roles at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
While receiving his MFA in writing from Bennington, Perkins was the recipient of the Jane Kenyon Memorial Scholarship. He also holds a master's degree in American studies from UMass-Boston and a bachelor's degree in peace and global studies/politics from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.
Perkins recently completed a year-long BookEnds Fellowship from Stony Brook University to work on a forthcoming novel and has attended writing residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the Watermill Center. His poems have been published in Tupelo Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, Memorious, Rhino, The Cortland Review and The Massachusetts Review, among other journals. His first book of poems, “Kingdom,” was released in April 2020. He is the co-author, with Frances Moore Lappe, of “You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear.”