Samara A. Sit

Samara A. Sit is a strategic communications and marketing leader driving excellence in higher education outreach through distinctive digital storytelling and innovative editorial strategies that unify campus communities, raise institutional profiles, and instill pride. As the Chief Communications Officer at Bryn Mawr College, she leads the Office of College Communications, which promotes college awareness and recognition as well as its community of student scholars, faculty, staff, and alumnae/i. Her work at Bryn Mawr includes the development of a new multichannel editorial content strategy that delivers compelling content about student and faculty successes to segmented audiences, the direction of crisis and strategic communications, strong collaboration with the admissions office, the undergraduate and graduate schools, and alumnae/i relations and development divisions, and in 2024, she concluded the college’s first-ever comprehensive institutional positioning project, creating a powerful new strategic messaging strategy and visual identity designed to unify all internal and external communications and marketing efforts.

In her previous role as associate dean and chief communications officer at the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Samara led an award-winning communications team responsible for supporting two campuses and 350+ faculty. Several national and international organizations recognized the 2019 relaunch of their digital web system with awards, including the International Circle of Excellence award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the AVA Digital Awards, The Communicator Award, and the Education Digital Marketing Award. She also revitalized the college’s brand and messaging strategy in collaboration with the design firm IDEO. In 2020, CALS received its first #1 ranking in Ag Sciences from the Wall Street Journal/THE.

Samara’s previous roles also leveraged her expertise in educating key audiences through interactive technology. At George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, she directed school communications, special events, and administration, and at the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, she became a television producer/reporter covering current affairs after directing the NewsHour’s online multimedia engagement program for high school students and teachers.

Samara is a member of the American Marketing Association and the Public Relations Society of America and has served on several boards, including the Finger Lakes (NY) chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and Washington DC's newspaper for teens, Young DC. A graduate of American University, in her senior year she was inducted into the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honors Society and served as a commencement speaker. She lives in Media, PA, with her husband, Dave Sit, and is a native of Cherry Hill, N.J. When not working, she is usually pursuing her fitness goals through strength training, kickboxing, spinning, or yoga, if not outside hiking or cycling on the many trails in the Philadelphia region.