Bluffton University

Bluffton University has named the students who will serve as President’s Ambassadors during the 2023-24 academic year. Selected students assist in recruiting prospective students, welcoming and greeting campus guests, and engaging alumni and donors. 

President’s Ambassadors receive extensive training in networking, professional development, etiquette, conversational skills and interviewing. They also are partnered with a faculty/staff mentor and connect with President Jane Wood on a regular basis. 

Marathana Prothro, assistant professor of communication at Bluffton University, will present Bluffton’s annual Civic Engagement Day Forum titled, “Echo Chambers and Fun-House Mirrors: Navigating an Age of Alternate Facts, Distorted Reality and Fractured Relationships.” The presentation will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 28, in Yoder Recital Hall.

As the Civic Engagement lecturer, Prothro draws from communication and media scholarship to sketch our media ecosystem and to suggest practices of engagement that foster connection rather than amplify polarization.

Prothro received her bachelor’s degree from Southwestern College in 2003 and her master’s from Wichita State University in 2010. Along with being an assistant professor, she is the divisional council member of communication and fine arts at Bluffton.

Civic Engagement Day is the culmination of a year-long exploration of the civic engagement theme “Please Don’t ‘Ghost’ Me!: Creating Space for Authentic Conversations.”

Forum is free and open to the public.

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