Ad professor inducted into Valley Hall of Fame

By Katie Hicks

The Collegian

Just out of college, and lugging television camera equipment that weighed as much as she did up the stairs of a gymnasium, Jan Edwards knew this wasn’t the job for her.

So Edwards found another department at the television station that sparked her interest, advertising.

Now, 30 years later, she is being inducted into the Central California Advertising and Marketing Hall of Fame.

“It is such an awesome feeling,” Edwards said. “I really share this with the countless people I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the last 30 years.”

Edwards refers to the last 30 years of her life as “lightning years,” because they passed with the snap of a finger, she said.

“I totally love every day,” Edwards said. “It’s such an adventure and it’s just been a joy.”

Edwards graduated from Grady College, University of Georgia and now owns Jan Edwards Marketing while concurrently teaching at Fresno State in the mass communications and journalism department and assisting the advertising staff at The Collegian.

“For the next chapter of my life I decided I wanted to give back,” Edwards said.

While working as the media director for Gottschalks in Fresno, Edwards worked closely with several student interns. She said she was inspired by their enthusiasm and fresh ideas and when offered a teaching position at Fresno State she jumped at the idea.

“That’s the greatest feeling, to inspire someone to reach inside themselves and discern their own greatness,” Edwards said. “And I think I’ve helped a few folks go out and succeed in the field I love.”

Edwards now teaches two advertising classes, as well as a public relations writing class and a public relations campaign class while advising the advertising department at The Collegian.

Virginia Sellars-Erxleben, business manager of The Collegian said Edwards inspires advertising students every day.

“She loves sales and the students like hearing that. It motivates them to sell ads for the collegian,” Sellars-Erxleben said. “She’s a terrific asset to the department, and she has tremendous connections in the community that help The Collegian with its advertising.”

Edwards will receive her award on March 24 at the International Trade Center in downtown Fresno.

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