Wright Receives 2026 Foster/Inglish Public Relations Prize at UCM

Kelly Waldram Cramer, associate vice president for Integrated Marketing and Communications, left,
presents the 2026 Foster/Inglish Public Relations Prize to Geoff Wright, website manager and strategist.

 

Known as a creative and collaborative team player, Geoff Wright is the 2026 recipient of the Carl B. Foster/John M. Inglish Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Service in Public Relations.

Wright, website manager and strategist in the Office of Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC), has served the 欧美视频 (UCM) for six years. He said his job often involves shining a light on the good work being done by the communications team, marketing specialists and designers, so he was surprised to be this year鈥檚 recipient.

 

鈥淚n previous years, when they would start the announcement speech, I鈥檇 think there's no way it's me 鈥� all I'm doing is putting stuff on a screen for people to see,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淣ow, having won it, I feel validated in some of the ownership that I've taken over the past couple of years. As I've grown into this role, it has validated that the work I'm doing is in line with what we're doing.鈥�

The award is presented annually to recognize an IMC staff member. It was made possible by the late John Inglish, who retired in 2000 as university director emeritus of public relations. He established an endowment through the UCM Alumni Foundation to honor his longtime friend and mentor, the late Carl Foster. A pioneer in university communications, Foster retired as director emeritus of public relations in 1986 after 19 years of service to the university. Inglish, a UCM alumnus, devoted more than 27 years to UCM鈥檚 Office of Public Relations (now IMC).

Wright maintains, updates and improves the university鈥檚 website, whether that鈥檚 designing new page layouts, staying current with industry trends and security standards, conducting annual updates, or training web editors. Over the last year, Wright played a significant role in Title II compliance and helped launch a new AI-enhanced search tool for the UCM website.

 

鈥淢y main goal is to provide a good user experience for people using the web,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淭hat varies from day to day, depending on whether I'm looking at prospective students or internal use or the university as a whole.鈥�

Wright said he鈥檚 always been creative and spent most of his time in the art room during high school, but his first career was in construction. He found himself using construction projects as a creative outlet, so when he decided to go back to school, it was important to find something that allowed him to pursue his interests. After completing his studies, Wright worked as a marketing coordinator for a few companies before joining UCM and the IMC team.

While the opportunity for creativity initially led Wright to marketing, he now appreciates the problem-solving aspect of web design. UCM鈥檚 current website was built prior to Wright鈥檚 arrival, and he enjoys finding new solutions to modernize and enhance it.

鈥淚n my previous marketing jobs, I had a design element and a web element. The design side of it let me flex that creativity, whereas the web is really more of the structured problem-solving type of stuff,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 enjoy trying to solve problems in an artful way and finding elegant solutions to things.鈥�

Kelly Waldram Cramer, associate vice president for Integrated Marketing and Communications, presented the 24th award and said Wright represents the best of UCM鈥檚 values. Not only is Wright a professional who contributes to the university鈥檚 mission, but he is also a caring coworker who looks for little ways to improve people鈥檚 lives, which can lead to big changes in workplace culture.

 

鈥淗e contributes to a larger effort, often by providing essential support or enabling others to succeed,鈥� Waldram Cramer said. 鈥淭his work can sometimes be overlooked or underappreciated. It can be taken for granted, or the complexity is missed because he makes it seem simple. Yet, he always shows up. He does things for others, not for the glory but in the service of others, which is so fitting, as one of UCM鈥檚 values is service.鈥� 

She said Wright views challenges as learning opportunities and problems to solve, and he pivots quickly when needs shift.

 

鈥淕eoff is a self-motivated problem solver,鈥� Waldram Cramer said. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 wait to be told what to do; he sees a gap and takes the initiative to fill it. I can鈥檛 tell you the number of times he has volunteered to do something outside of his 鈥榡ob description鈥� in order to help fellow team members. He doesn鈥檛 just point out problems 鈥� he brings solutions to the table.鈥�