GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (PIE Center) welcomes Laura Bernheim as its newest team member.

As the new Media Coordinator, she will work alongside PIE Center staff to publish industry research as well as improve the Center’s website and social media programs. Laura, originally from Dayton, Ohio, joins the PIE Center after a year of freelancing for the Gainesville Sun, where she helped produce the website, wrote sports and feature articles as well as shot and edited videos. She says her wide variety of experience in the newspaper industry has prepared her for her job at the PIE Center.

“Using the aggressive web strategies I’ve learned through working at newspapers, I see the PIE Center’s role and exposure growing tremendously,” Laura said. “The effort and results are already here. All I have to do is spread the word.”

While she is new to the PIE Center, Laura is certainly not a novice in the news industry. As a journalism major at Ohio University, she interned in the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She also spent two years in southern Louisiana managing the web presences of two regional papers in Houma and Thibodaux.

Fluent in online communication strategies, attention to detail and deadlines at the various publications, Laura anticipates a seamless transition into the PIE Center. She says she was attracted to the PIE Center because of the opportunity of a new job experience and the ability to make a difference.

“I’ve worked for newspapers since I was 18. I knew I liked journalism, but being willing to try anything opens up all sorts of opportunities to learn and improve,” Laura said. “I really take that to heart and am excited to see where it takes the PIE Center.”

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