Professor Roberta Elins

Associate Chairperson

        Phone #: 212-217-4478   /   Room #: B417

Department #: 212-217-4750   /   Room #: B403

           Fax #: 212-217-4471

Spring 2011

            Roberta Elins, Chairperson of the Direct Marketing Department is a Professor in the Advertising & Marketing Communications Department at S.U.N.Y./Fashion Institute of Technology She has been public relations professional for 30 years.  She began her career at the Rowland Company, where she worked on Fortune 500 accounts including McDonald’s, Chesebrough-Pond’s and Parker Brothers Games.  She continued her agency experience at Fishman Cairns Communications, an agency specializing in the cosmetic and fragrance industries.  Roberta headed the agency’s broadcast media relations section, working on Oscar de la Renta Fragrances, Shiseido Cosmetics and Clarins.

            In 1981 she opened her own agency, Roberta Elins/PR, which merged with Jewel-Com in 1988 to become Communications Specialty Group, Ltd.  At CSG, she was a Partner and Creative Director of the agency, which specialized in high end consumer goods including Gucci Timepieces and Henry Dunay Designs.  In 1990, Roberta sold her position in CSG, and reopened Roberta Elins/PR where she worked primarily in the educational and publishing industries.  Her work for Kensington Publishing Corporation’s African-American fiction and non fiction releases, earned her three NAPS awards for Superior Achievement in Radio. 

            Teaching was always a career goal for Roberta, and she began as an adjunct instructor at FIT in 1986.  She became a full time faculty member in 1994, was elected Assistant Chairperson of the Advertising & Marketing Communications Department in 1997, and began her first term of three terms as Chairperson in July, 1998.  Roberta serves on a wide variety of college-wide committees, and at the request of President Brown served on the Steering Committee of FIT’s Strategic Planning Committee. She is currently the Vice President for Faculty of the United College Employees of FIT.  She is the faculty advisor to the Public Relations Student Society of America, and was named the Outstanding Faculty Advisor of the Northeast District in 1993 and 1995.  She won the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2003.

Roberta is the co-author of Stress Breakers (1983) and Be Your Own Makeup Artist (1981).  She is on the Board of Directors of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) NY Chapter, the Amagansett Historical Association and Elsa’s Ark, Inc., an animal rescue organization. She received an A.B in history from Vassar College and an M.A. in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research.