Dean Diane Gayeski ’74

If you’re an Ithaca student, you’ve most likely met Dean Gayeski of the Park School of Communications walking around campus with a constant smile on her face. If not, here’s some insight into the life of an Ithaca alumna who just couldn’t get enough of the school we call home. Dean Gayeski is always willing to sit down and chat with students no matter how insanely busy she is juggling being a dean and heading her own analytical firm.

Position: Dean of the Park School of Communications

College major: television-radio

Interesting fact: She loves perfecting and decorating her house.

Favorite restaurants: Moosewood, Zaza’s Cucina, Madeline’s

How did you become involved in communications?

“I got interested in communications when I was 12 years old and a radio station moved into a building that my dad owned. He would go to work on weekends, and I would go with him and press my little nose against the window and watch the disc jockeys. For a 12-year-old that was pretty interesting, and I decided to tell my parents I was going into communications. They didn’t take it very seriously because before that I wanted to be a dog trainer.”

What clubs did you participate in at Ithaca College?

“I was a transfer student so I didn’t have all four years at Ithaca, but I was very involved in ICTV. I was able to hit the ground running and produced a classical music show. We interviewed a lot of professors from the music school and other music students.”

How did Ithaca College prepare you for your future career and the “real world”?

“It was really interesting because I was really passionate about TVR, but when I became aware of the real world of the industry, I realized that there weren’t as many opportunities to create really original programming on television, especially at the local or regional level, and I didn’t want to live in Hollywood or New York City. I had taken courses in educational media, and I found them very interesting. My professors encouraged me to go on to grad school and pursue educational media at the University of Maryland, and I was very well prepared. I immediately got an assistantship there in the technology department.”

What was your graduate school experience like?

“After a semester, I realized that a lot of the classes that I wanted to take weren’t being offered, so I spoke to one of my professors about it and he suggested that I teach the graduate class as a 21-year-old graduate student. They say the best way to learn something is to teach it.”

What was your favorite part of your experience at Ithaca College?

“I enjoy all aspects of the campus. I love the concerts and plays and all of the student media. I love the lakes and the gorges and the different restaurants. There’s a very interesting culture here.”

How did you build your own firm, Gayeski Analytics?

“I started doing freelance work to create educational videos as a grad student and I got a couple of opportunities to write scripts for corporations. The world literally beat a path to my door. I do analyzing of staffing and techniques of communications departments.”

What is it like being the Dean of the Park School?

“It’s very interesting. Every hour there’s a different topic, challenge, problem or opportunity. You have to keep a lot of balls in the air. It’s very humbling to be a dean of my alma mater. I never expected that to happen. It was not in my career goals. It just happened. It’s very 24/7, but I’m at the time in my life where I can do that.”

Do you have any advice for females in the communications industry?

“I think it’s a great time to be a woman in the industry because people are realizing that we need women voices in the media. We need more female presence, and it’s a great time to join the field. I think everybody these days have to think about how you want to balance your life and your career. Women certainly do have more pressure on the work and family balance, but I think it should be a men’s problem too.”

What would you ultimately like to accomplish in your role at Ithaca College?

“I guess the thing you always want to do is to leave the place better than how you found it. You have to leave it in a place that attracts people. What’s really interesting is that you can change a lot of things in your life, but you’re never gonna change your college diploma.”