Meet Janine Fondon, Assistant Professor and Chair of Communications and Liberal Studies

Janine Fondon brings more than 15 years of experience in business, online communications, strategic public relations, and multicultural marketing to her position as assistant professor and chair of communications and liberal studies at Bay Path University. 

Her background includes work as a consultant, corporate communicator and entrepreneur. She has held management positions in corporate communications across a spectrum of industries:  Digital Equipment Corporation, BankBoston, ABC-TV (New York and Washington, DC) and CBS-TV (New York). As an entrepreneur, Fondon has built a reputation for sharing news and information across the U.S. and world via a company she co-founded, UnityFirst.com. Over the course of her career, Fondon has also assisted companies to reach the ‘front page’ in mainstream, emerging, and multicultural markets by helping them tell and share their stories.

Fondon brings her expertise to Bay Path teaching subjects including effective communication skills, entrepreneurship, marketing principles, consulting skills, intercultural communication, public relations, social media, and mass communications.  She is considered a media ecologist who creates classroom environments that maximize communication technologies and considers the effect of interactive dialogue on human perception, understanding, feeling, and value.

Nationally, Fondon has been referenced in top business publications such as Forbes, Black Enterprise, Entrepreneur Magazine, Boston Business Journal and The Boston Globe. On a regional level, she has been featured in several area publications such as the Worcester Business Journal, BusinessWest, MassLive, and The Republican.

A recipient of over 25 regional and national awards, Fondon has been recognized with the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Regional Entrepreneurial Award, National Council of Negro Women's Regional Women of Conviction Award and Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus Abigail Adams Leadership Award, among others. In 2011, Fondon received an honorary degree from Springfield Technical Community College citing her leadership at WTCC 90.7 FM  radio, the city of Springfield’s most diverse radio station with some 20+ culturally-inclusive programs. She was also chosen as one of the “Western Massachusetts Women to Watch” by Western Massachusetts Women’s Magazine and was named one of the 25 Influential Black Women in Business by NYC's Network Journal. 

Fondon earned a bachelor of arts in sociology and anthropology from Colgate University and a master of arts in communications and business from New York University.