Elizabeth Latt
Assistant Vice Chancellor, News and Communications
Director, News Service
elizabeth.p.latt@vanderbilt.edu
Liz Latt oversees the daily operation of the Vanderbilt News Service and serves as the primary communications liaison with the University's administration. She is responsible for planning and implementing Vanderbilt's relationship with the local and national news media. A graduate of and subsequent instructor at the University of South Carolina College of Journalism, Latt served as chief state government reporter at the Columbia bureau of The Associated Press and city editor at The Columbia Record prior to moving to Nashville in 1982. She worked briefly for the Tennessee Municipal League, joined the Nashville AP bureau and later served as publications manager for Saint Thomas Hospital before coming to Vanderbilt in 1990.

Emily Pearce
Associate Director for Video
emily.pearce@vanderbilt.edu
As associate director of the News Service, Emily Pearce oversees video projects, coordinates live television interviews from VUStar, our campus broadcast facility, works with national and local media, and assists with the daily operation of the Vanderbilt News Service. A 15-year veteran of television news, Pearce spent six years at ABC-TV owned stations in San Francisco and New York. She has won numerous broadcasting awards including a national Ohio State Merit Award and a regional Emmy. As a veteran special projects producer/executive producer, Pearce has planned and overseen live news coverage of events ranging from the Super Bowl to Presidential trips to elections. She spent five years at the University of California San Francisco, one of the top medical schools in the country, where she handled international, national and local media. She was a senior account executive at a public relations agency in Nashville before joining Vanderbilt in January 2000.

Melanie Moran
Assistant Director
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu
Melanie Moran oversees the Vanderbilt homepage, plans and implements public relations efforts for Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development and manages the News Service Web site. She also works closely with the Learning Sciences Institute, the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science and the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. Prior to joining the News Service, Moran worked for seven years for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, where she was responsible for managing media relations, events, speech writing, graphic arts and the Web site. While with the state, Moran also served as assistant to Governor Don Sundquist for communications. Moran holds a master’s degree in public administration from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Penn State.

Ann Marie Deer Owens
Senior Public Affairs Officer, Executive Producer, Radio Projects
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu
As a senior public affairs officer in the Vanderbilt News Service, Ann Marie Deer Owens works with national and local media seeking Vanderbilt sources. A contributor to the Vanderbilt Register, Owens also writes and produces radio spots that air on the Commodore Radio Network and on Vanderbilt's news network, VUCast. As the News Service's government and politics specialist, she works with the departments of Political Science, History, Community Relations and the Center for the Americas. She also works with Admissions, Financial Aid, the library and honor scholarships. Before joining the University staff in 1992, Owens, a Vanderbilt graduate, worked in radio news as a reporter and news director for four Nashville stations. She also reported for WKRN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Nashville. In addition, she worked in financial development and special events management for two non-profit agencies. Owens was honored as Tennessee Broadcaster of the Year by The Associated Press and was a two-time recipient of the Golden Mike Award for public service programming by the Nashville chapter of the American Women in Radio and Television.

Princine Lewis
Senior Public Affairs Officer, Television Projects Producer
princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu
Princine Lewis plans and implements media relations efforts for the Office of the Dean of Students; the Commons, the university’s new community for first-year students; College Halls at Vanderbilt, the university’s new residential college program; Vanderbilt University Police Department, Margaret Cuninggim Women's Center, Women's and Gender Studies, the Department of Sociology and the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center. Prior to joining the university, Lewis was an account executive at McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations, one of the largest independent public relations firms in the Southeast, where she managed media relations, community relations, special events and marketing communications efforts for a variety of corporate, government and not-for-profit clients. Lewis is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Jim Patterson
Senior Public Affairs Officer, Senior Writer
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu
Jim Patterson represents the Vanderbilt Divinity School, the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, the Blair School of Music, the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture, and the arts and humanities departments of the College of Arts and Science. He worked for 14 years for The Associated Press in Nashville, covering all aspects of news in Tennessee with emphasis on the religion, arts and music business beats. He was given the Media Achievement Award by the Country Music Association in 2002.

Amy Wolf
Senior Public Affairs Officer
amy.wolf@vanderbilt.edu
As a senior public affairs officer, Amy Wolf works primarily with the Vanderbilt Law School,  the Owen Graduate School of Management and the department of economics.  Wolf has 13 years of experience in television and radio news.  Before coming to Vanderbilt, she served as senior producer for news and health at NBC affiliate WBAL-TV in Baltimore. She managed coverage of special events and produced the early evening newscasts, which were top-rated in the region for the six consecutive years she led them. In 2003 she was nominated for an Emmy as best newscast producer. Her other previous experience includes more than a decade of creating, writing and promoting newscasts in New Haven, Conn., and Cincinnati. She also spent two years as a producer and reporter for Cincinnati’s NPR affiliate. Wolf is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio, with concentrations in journalism, communications and political science.

Pat Slattery
Broadcast Technical and Production Manager
pat.slattery@vanderbilt.edu
Pat Slattery, a national award-winning videographer and longtime chief photographer at WSMV-TV joined the News Service August 2006 as broadcast technical and production manager. He serves the university and medical center as videographer for live shots at VUStar, Vanderbilt's campus broadcast facility, as well as facilitating audio production and shooting and editing stories for external media and VUCast, Vanderbilt's news Web site. Slattery was on staff at WSMV-TV for more than 24 years, serving as chief photographer for the past 11 years and winning 18 regional Emmy awards.

Nicole Bentley
Administrative Assistant
nicole.m.bentley@vanderbilt.edu
As administrative assistant, Nicole Bentley is responsible for processing news releases for distribution, including uploading them to the News Service’ Web site. She manages the News Service’s front desk, directing media calls to the appropriate public affairs officer, and assists with the compilation of the daily news clips summary. She also reconciles monthly expenditure reports. Before joining the News Service staff in 1998, Bentley worked for five years at Vanderbilt's Peabody College in the Classroom Organization and Management Program and the Department of Teaching and Learning.

Melissa Pankake
Editorial Assistant
melissa.r.pankake@vanderbilt.edu
Melissa Pankake is responsible for the compilation of the daily news clips summary, including e-mailing VUtoday and uploading clips to the VUCast. She writes news releases for the Chancellor's Lecture Series, Vanderbilt theater events and others as needed. She also assists with processing news releases for distribution, managing the News Service front desk and directing media calls. Prior to joining the News Service, Pankake worked for Bright Horizons, an international child care management company, for eight years as the manager of employee communications where she was responsible for newsletters, intranet content, surveys and training. Pankake is a graduate of Maryville College.