Faculty spotlight: Gene Donati

By Paige Cole College Life Editor/ Lycourier

He didn’t get any sleep the night before, yet he still eagerly entered the classroom Monday morning. A lot of students were already there and he wondered if he was late, but quickly dismissed that sentiment as nerves. Who can blame him for being nervous though? After all, it was his first day of school.

Members of the Class of 2015 aren’t the only new faces you’ll see on campus this fall. In addition to the incoming freshmen, some new faculty members will mark their first semester at Lycoming. One such is Professor Eugene Donati.

Donati is joining the Department of Communication, where he will teach Corporate Communications. He earned degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, American University, and the University of Toronto taught at New York University and the City College of New York.

“I entered the classroom six years ago,” Donati said. “Lycoming is definitely a different atmosphere from New York, but I am originally from Pennsylvania, so it’s like coming home.”

Donati was attracted to Lycoming after researching its corporate communication program.

“This program is stunning,” Donati said. “It is right on spot and the perfect combination of business and communication. If I had a blank sheet and had to construct a program, it would be this one.”

Although new to Lycoming, Donati is no stranger to the field of corporate communications.He has worked as a Capitol Hill press secretary for two members of Congress and as a spokesman for political campaigns in four U.S. States. In addition, he held senior communication positions at Mellon Bank, Equitable Capital, and MasterCard and also served as a consultant at the advisory firms Hill & Knowlton and Clark & Weinstock.

“Corporate communication is a life-long profession,” Donati said.“My experience has taught me that every case is different and that your job in the field is a continuous learning process.”

Donati said he plans to use less of a case studies approach and more of a bottom line structure in the classroom.

“Communication is about knowing how to talk the talk and speak the language,” Donati said. “All of students in the classroom will have different intentions for their degree.Case studies won’t apply to each individual, and I plan to teach courses in which every student has a take-away.”

He plans to compliment his teaching with lectures and reading.

“I plan to cover a lot of material,” Donati said. “My goal is to maximize knowledge. I want each student to recognize what is most important to their career goals.”

Donati joins the department with change. But he said that he believes that the transition is a strength rather than a problem.

“For the first couple years, I will have to teach some of the basics in all courses, no matter the level,” Donati said. “But you can also count on other courses to teach them, which is one aspect that makes this program so fantastic.”

Although confident for the upcoming school year, Donati was still anxious about his first day.

“Part of my job is to entertain,” Donati said. “I still get stage fright. And I can guarantee that I didn’t sleep the Sunday night before my first day.”