Director of Media & Public Relations
Karen Simonian has been with the Wexner Center since 1998, directing the center’s local, regional, national, and international media relations efforts. She has procured high-profile coverage for the Wexner Center in such outlets as the
New York Times,
CBS News Sunday Morning,
Vogue, PBS’s
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and the Associated Press, as well as a broad array of arts publications and outlets and international outlets. Prior to joining the Wexner Center, Simonian an arts reporter and then first arts editor of the alternative news and arts weekly
The Other Paper in Columbus (and wrote for the sister publication
Columbus Monthly as well), where she won several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Simonian is currently co-chair of the Campus Culture Collaborative; a board member of Dine Originals Columbus; past co-chair of the Columbus Arts Marketing Association; and a former fellow of the Next Generation of Leaders program at the Jefferson Center’s Academy for Leadership & Governance. Over the years she has been involved with several community and university organizations and has served on marketing, PR, and grants committees in town, and has been published in the Public Relations Society of America’s
Tactics publication. A Columbus native, Simonian received a B.A. in English/journalism from Miami University and attended its campus in Luxembourg.
