University Media Relations Director Pauline Austin has worked in the Media Relations office for 10 years. Her primary responsibility is to connect reporters to University officials who have the information they need. She sat down with the Emerald for Quick Quacks — a short question-and-answer session aimed at giving readers an expedient look at campus and community members’ thoughts.
ODE: How come you don’t use your first name, Mary?
Austin: Because my mother didn’t use my first name. I believe, this is my own interpretation of family folklore — in Catholic families all the girls are named Mary Catherine, Mary Pauline, Mary Kate — you don’t call them Mary because they’re all Marys.
ODE: What’s the most rewarding part of being a communications director?
Austin: Working with reporters, because reporters are looking for information. Part of my long career was being an assignment editor. That allowed me to be on the other end of that line trying to find someone. I was trying to find an expert, I was trying to find someone to interview. Now I’m on the other side and I still like doing it. I like to understand what people are looking for.
ODE: If you were not in PR, what job would you do?
Austin: I’d would be doing a job in news writing.
ODE: What’s the most challenging part of dealing with reporters?
Austin: Deadlines. The same challenge that you have. We had a story the other day that everyone would have been happy to talk about, but none of the people who knew about it were available by the time of the reporter’s deadline.
ODE: What’s your comfort food?
Austin: My comfort food? Things with salt, sugar and cheese, not necessarily in combination.
ODE: Who’s the one person you’d like to meet and why?
Austin: As a reporter I met an awful lot of people. Well, I’m just going to go for the silly. I’d like to meet Brad Pitt.
ODE: Why?
Austin: I think he’s hot. (She laughs) I don’t always have to meet someone intellectual … I met a lot of people.
ODE: What book are you reading right now?
Austin: I think I’m reading a mystery. My reading tends to be in little snatches and pieces. I think I’m reading a mystery, I don’t remember the name of it — “Birds of Prey” is the name of it and it’s by a mystery writer out of Seattle, a woman who uses initials.
ODE: What’s your dream car and where would you drive it?
Austin: It depends on which dream we’re talking about. Well, it will be a convertible, and it might be a VW convertible. First car I ever owned was a VW. But … because of where I live it might be a sunroof VW, so it would be more pleasant when it rains all the time. Red.
ODE: So where would you drive it?
Austin: I would drive it someplace where I could easily show it off. I think the first place I would take it is to my grandson’s high school, so he would know that I’m cooler than he thinks I am. Perhaps he would think I’m not cool at all. By the way, his brother says I may not say the word cool because older people don’t know how to say it right.
ODE: Where can we find you on a Saturday night?
Austin: Most often, you would find me home watching television, but you might find me at a performance at the Hult Center, at one of the plays we have down here. I really like drama. Or visiting with a friend, playing Scrabble.
ODE: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve learned about the University?
Austin: I like this place so much. Nothing here has struck me as really weird — interesting, maybe odd sometimes, but not weird. This is a place where so many different kinds of things come together and make this great mix. We worry a lot about whether we have diversity, but diversity doesn’t just mean skin color. We have all kinds of philosophies that come together, we have all kinds of approaches to life and all kinds of things you can learn and sometimes things get mixed up and really interesting.