FIYou: Emmett Young

Name: Emmett (Bill) Young

Hometown: Allenhurst, NJ (on the Jersey Shore)

Job Title/Department:
Assistant Director, Marketing & Communications, the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum

Campus: Modesto A. Maidique Campus

In a nutshell:
I supervise two talented and creative communications professionals, Gabby Portela and JeanCarlos Fernandez, and together we have the very pleasant responsibility of informing the FIU community, our neighbors here in South Florida, and a national and worldwide audience about the interesting and exciting exhibitions and events here at the Frost. We do that by designing brochures and catalogs, placing ads in newspapers and on the radio, communicating with the media, and fully utilizing our web site (thefrost.fiu.edu) and social media, among other things.

Number of years at FIU: 1.5

What do you enjoy most about your job?
After years of working in Public Relations in the energy industry, where there was often bad news to communicate about, it is great to be able to concentrate on the great news I deal with at the Frost. Moreover, I get to do that in a great working environment, with a Museum staff (we’re all “Frosties”) that is knowledgeable and works together like a family.

What should faculty, staff and students know about the museum?
That we are here among them, open six days a week with fascinating exhibitions from around the world (18-20 per year!), interesting lectures and events, and we’re absolutely free of charge to all. We sometimes feature student and faculty art exhibitions, sometimes we have art on loan from foreign museums and even the Smithsonian museums in Washington, and other times art from our permanent collection or from renowned artists and sculptors around the world.

Where is your favorite spot on campus?
Probably sitting on the patio at the back of the Museum, overlooking the fountain and pond. It’s a very pleasant place to take a short break to clear your mind…or just count the turtles sunning themselves on the shoreline.

What is one thing you wish everyone knew about FIU?
What a great experience it is to be here, whether you are a student, faculty or an administrator, and what an incredible resource FIU is to the South Florida community.

How do you help make FIU “Worlds Ahead”?
I think we all have a part in that; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. My particular part of that is to get the word out about what the Frost Art Museum and FIU have to offer; sometimes that centers on our exhibitions and events, and sometimes it’s doing things like reminding everyone that the Frost Art Museum was voted Miami’s Best Art Museum for 2013 in the Miami New Times annual poll!

Family snapshot:
My wife Doris, and my three children (Bill, Dan and Kelly) and three grandchildren (Justin, Will and Aidan).

First paying job:
Delivering newspapers (Newsday, in Port Washington, NY) when I was 9.

Favorite TV show:
60 Minutes mostly, but maybe also a guilty pleasure like El Secreto de Puente Viejo on TV from Spain.

What is playing on your iPod?
A new group from Miami, Elastic Bond, as well as the usual: Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Tom Petty.

Your proudest accomplishment:
Surprisingly, having served as a First Lieutenant in the Army in Vietnam.

What do you do when you are not working at FIU?
I enjoy working out or just relaxing and, of course, traveling, when I get the chance.