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After 25 years of service to the university, Erin Frazier recently stepped into a new role as assistant vice chancellor for constituent engagement in Strategic Relations and Communications.

Frazier's professional journey began at CU Boulder in 1996, first as a temporary employee in Printing and Copying Services and a few years later in SRC when she was offered the opportunity to work in community relations.

“After 9/11, I had an opportunity to move from my work in print management, pre-press and graphic design and move into a position more focused on community service. It was something I was already passionate about in my personal life,” Frazier said. “Volunteering and community service are so important to me. The opportunity to move into community relations was compelling and something I couldn’t pass up.”

Frazier’s service roots run deep, from serving on the board for Broomfield’s , holding many roles on the over the course of 15 years and twice serving as statewide advisory committee chair for the . Currently, she serves as secretary for the School Accountability Committee of Westgate Community School in Thornton and volunteers with her dog, Pacha, as a therapy team at Good Samaritan hospital in Lafayette.

Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Frazier describes herself as an “oil brat” who lived in locales as varied as Tjilatjap, Indonesia and Rahima, Saudi Arabia.

“Army brats move around the world with their families from base to base,” she said. “Oil brats move with their families from construction site to construction site. It made for an interesting and world-spanning childhood––along with an insider view on natural resource extraction’s impact on the world.”

Frazier has lived in Colorado since 1996, moving to the Centennial State from North Idaho, where her family settled after their world-traveling adventures. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Central University of Iowa (now Central College) and took advantage of the college's study abroad programs to live and study in Carmarthen, Wales, and London. Her time in London was the start of her work in communications, where she interned and then worked for the head of audience research for the BBC World Service.

“I was privileged to work for Graham Mytton, head of International Broadcasting and Audience Research (IBAR), while I was in London,” Frazier said. “I learned a lot about study design and audience research and how to lead a team. It was a tremendous melting pot of international professionals and answering listener mail from across our broadcast footprint. Also––best potlucks, ever.”

Her work at the BBC also exposed Frazier to the very beginnings of desktop publishing, which translated into work when she returned stateside, first as an executive assistant for a research and development director, as a temporary worker at the World Trade Center complex in New York, and later with a real estate catalog company.

Finding a New Home in Colorado

After moving to Colorado, she started with a temporary agency and was placed in the former Printing and Copying Services housed at Folsom Field. As she flourished and assumed more responsibilities, her roles evolved over the years, and she worked as a Printer I, Printer II, Admin I, Admin II and General Professional I, II and III before eventually becoming a university staff member.

“I’ve had an incredible journey at CU Boulder and worked with so many amazing colleagues along the way. I’ve worked in printing, community relations, internal communications and now constituent experience,” Frazier said. “Working at such a large institution can give people so many opportunities to find passions, develop skills and build careers, all in service of such a fantastic goal: supporting our educational mission.”

As the leader of the internal communications and digital engagement team in SRC, Frazier’s goals included redefining how the campus communicates and serves its student, faculty and staff audiences. Her team sought to ensure that the campus community remained well informed, celebrated the great things happening at CU Boulder, and engaged in the life of the campus.

“Service, connection, community––those are three words that are my touchstones about how I live my personal and business lives,” she said. “Connection and community grounded our work as we established CU Boulder Today and changed up our thinking about how campus news is shared.”

Communicating During a Global Pandemic

Building the channels that keep the campus informed also meant developing emergency communications, procedures and practices, work that has been put to the test and then some during the last 18 months following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. As it turns out, Frazier wears another professional hat at CU Boulder––that of manager of the longest-standing Joint Information Center (JIC) in university history.

Since March 2020, when the university shifted quickly to an unprecedented remote operating status, the JIC has developed, fielded and approved crisis, emergency and day-to-day communications for the university in partnership with stakeholders across campus. Throughout the ensuing months, Frazier and other JIC team members worked to ensure that students, faculty and staff were updated regularly about COVID restrictions, protocols and operational changes.

Frazier was more than qualified to lead CU Boulder's JIC. She had already earned the certification from the (FEMA), completing a series of state and federal emergency management and incident command training that would lead to FEMA's prestigious Advanced PIO certification. She had also participated in annual table-top and functional exercises on campus designed to prepare staff to respond to human-caused and natural disasters and public health crises such as global pandemics. When working on her FEMA certification, Frazier chose to focus on fulfilling the JIC manager role, knowing that organizing people and communication tools to respond to crises would be critically needed in the event of a disaster or crisis on campus. The role also spoke to her passion for service and connection.

“The past 18+ months have been a traumatic journey for everyone, and I have been privileged and challenged to bring all of myself to this work every day––and to be honest, a lot of nights, too. I work within an incredibly passionate and caring community of people who are turning themselves inside out to get the right information to the right people at the right time––even when that information changes by the hour. We’re all a little grayer than we were when we started,” she said.

Finding the Next Big Challenge

As she translates her passion for community into her next big challenge as the assistant vice chancellor for constituent engagement, Frazier will lead a team of strategists, researchers and technologists to develop the next generation of communications tools for CU Boulder.

“How can we help each member of our campus community achieve and grow? How do we help Buffs navigate the complexities of higher education, where are the barriers and opportunities? How can we invite the broader community into this fantastic place?” she asked.

“Throughout SRS, we’re aligning to support our students, faculty and staff on their CU journeys. The tools our team brings––including the Buff Info contact center and a new web infrastructure––will improve the experience and engagement for everyone.”