Shayna Chabner Named Caltech's Chief Communications Officer

Shayna Chabner, an experienced communications professional who has spent nearly a decade at Caltech, has been appointed the Institute's Chief Communications Officer. She will assume her new position on June 3.

Chabner, who most recently served as the Senior Director of Strategy and Special Projects in the Office of Strategic Communications, will now lead Caltech's strategic communications efforts, further strengthening and developing a multifaceted team focused on increasing awareness and understanding of Caltech's research programs and people, as well as advancing Institute initiatives and priorities. Through direct oversight of OSC and collaboration with partners across campus, Chabner will enhance and align Institute-wide communications efforts. She will also serve as the Institute's spokesperson and primary adviser on all communications matters and opportunities. Chabner will also coordinate with JPL colleagues to ensure appropriate integration and collaboration of communications and public events across campus and lab.

Chabner brings more than a decade of experience in journalism, strategic communications, marketing, event planning, and coordination to the role. During her tenure at Caltech, she helped to develop and implement strategic communications efforts in support of LIGO's initial detection of gravitational waves, the 2017 and 2018 Nobel Prize announcements, and Caltech's annual commencement ceremony, among others. She brought together communicators across campus and JPL in a monthly Communicators Council meeting and coordinated the daily content flow and coverage of research and campus life.

Most recently, Chabner was given oversight of Caltech's Campus Programs team, which plans and coordinates the CaltechLive! arts programming as well as the Institute's signature public lecture series.

"It has been a privilege to work at Caltech the last eight years, and to help the Institute and its people bring awareness to the incredible work that is done here," Chabner says. "I am honored to have this opportunity to build upon OSC's accomplishments and lead the team to be ever more effective and innovative in how we share Caltech's story of innovation and discovery, and to amplify the profound impact the Institute has had and will continue to have at a local, national, and global level."

Prior to joining Caltech, Chabner was a communications specialist at California State University, Los Angeles. A journalist by training, she also covered education, local government, and community affairs, as well as Washington, D.C., legislative policy and government, for a number of newspapers across Southern California. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Northwestern University.