The School of Communication and Journalism is quickly evolving, and two new team members – Eric Brodsky and Evan Tousey – are here to help it flourish. While Eric leverages his admissions experience to recruit high-caliber students for the SoCJ, Evan utilizes his expertise in business and finance to advance and streamline operations at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, a close partner of the school. Both newcomers are thrilled to support the school and center as they soar to new heights.

Eric Brodsky
Recruitment and Outreach Specialist

After directing admissions efforts at Adelphi University for more than 18 years, Eric was ready for a change. Keen on securing a more wide-ranging role within the higher education arena, he found the perfect fit at Stony Brook as recruitment and outreach specialist, a position unique to the SoCJ.

“I’m passionate about helping students find where they belong and helping the school grow,” he says. “And it’s been great to shift gears from the formulaic nature of admissions to a more broad and creative set of responsibilities that center around engagement, marketing and relationship building. I’m expanding professionally in ways I wasn’t able to before.”

While he still works closely with numbers and statistics, Eric now leads the charge when it comes to bolstering recruitment strategies and application logistics for the SoCJ. He’s involved in the entire process of enlisting and onboarding new students – a responsibility he approaches with the utmost care and concern for the best interest of each scholar as well as that of the school.

“It’s important not to judge a student or hold it against them if we’re not a match,” he says. “The worst thing would be to misguide a student and cause them to have a negative experience. Word of mouth is a big thing, and even if it’s not a fit now, they could one day end up as a transfer student – I’ve seen all sides of it. So for me, it’s about acknowledging that we’re also a resource for them if they change their mind.”

Eric touts the fact that Stony Brook is a sprawling institution while the SoCJ is small and intimate, allowing students to join a tight-knit community and a larger collegiate network. Interacting with matriculated students is the best way for potential newcomers to envision themselves as seawolves in the SoCJ, he says, adding that he hopes to build up such initiatives in the coming semesters.

“We’re really big on getting to know you not only by name, but also by story,” he says. “I think that’s why we’re able to attract such incredible students. We know where they came from and what they want to do, and they always impress me with their passion, drive and authenticity. The students within the SoCJ are some of the best students I’ve ever worked with.”

The school, which expanded from the School of Journalism to include a variety of communication programs in 2021, is gearing up to launch its newest degree track – a BA in communication. Eric is developing a robust recruitment plan for the new program as it’s implemented internally this fall, and he anticipates freshmen being able to declare the major in 2024.

With a degree in communication himself, Eric feels he’s finally found his home within the world of higher education. He has been a member of the Collegiate Information Visitor Services Association (CIVSA), a 1,600-member organization dedicated to advancing collegiate services across the nation, since 2010. Having held various leadership roles including chair of the annual conference, he won an award for his service in 2020. “Doing this work has been one of my best professional accomplishments,” he says.

On a personal level, Eric takes even greater pride in his family, including his wife Melanie and their sons, Ian and Jared, who are 12 and 14. When he was chair of the CIVSA conference, he spent a lot of time in Florida where it took place and was able to host Melanie, Ian and Jared there on four separate occasions.

“We love to travel domestically,” he says. “Apart from Florida – we’re big Disney World people – our go-to spot is Maine. Melanie and I got engaged there, and we go up as a family every year. It’s our happy place. I always say I want to retire north.”

Even though the Brodskys already have their favorite vacation spots, Melanie and Eric would love to visit every US state someday. The family recently returned from a trip to the midwest, where they crossed Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia off the list. Working their way toward all 50, they look forward to planning their next adventure.

Evan Tousey
Program Analyst, Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science

While he’s new to the Alda Center, Evan is a proud Stony Brook alumnus. He graduated in 2011 with a BA in environmental design policy and went on to receive a master’s in public policy from New York University (NYU). He’d always had an interest in financial markets, so when he had the opportunity to intern at an environmental finance company while at NYU, Evan knew he wanted to pursue a career in finance.

“I saw a way to blend that growing interest with my passion for environmental and sustainable technology and policy,” he says. “So I ended up working for an investment bank for a while, then I hopped over to a hedge fund.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, Evan began working from his home in Rockville Centre and no longer needed to take the train to and from the city. He’d enjoyed using the commute to calm his active mind after a busy workday, so once he went remote, he had to find another way to release that energy. 

“I didn’t want to just log off my computer and not use the time productively,” he says. “So I started teaching myself how to code. It went from watching YouTube tutorials to identifying a real-world project to work on.” Outside of coding, his outlets include running, working out, vacationing with loved ones, and taking walks around the neighborhood with his wife Jenna.

During the height of the pandemic, Evan noticed that social distancing and other precautionary measures had led to a sharp increase in the presence of food trucks across Long Island and NYC. After doing a little digging, he realized there was no way for people to locate and track the migrating trucks. He founded What The Truk shortly thereafter, creating an app that did just that.

“When I launched the app, more and more people started using it,” he says. “So I sat down with Jenna, and she suggested I give it a year to see where I could take it. I followed her advice and am very proud of what I was able to accomplish. I created an app, built a business, generated revenue, got lots of downloads and a bunch of food trucks to sign up for it – I hit a lot of the milestones I wanted to hit.”

A year after he transformed his side project into a rewarding full-time gig, Evan decided to return to the job market and continue progressing his career. Like many other SBU alums, his fond memories of the university steered him toward the Stony Brook jobs site, where he came across the position he now holds.

“Prior to the pandemic, some of the Alda Center’s functions were handled by an external partner,” Evan says. “When COVID came, things started to shift, and Stony Brook took on a lot of those functions. I was brought on board to assist with the transition as our training services and professional development programs continue to skyrocket in popularity.”

Evan leverages his background in business and finance to identify processes that can be streamlined and improved. He’s eager to increase the quality and effectiveness of the Alda Center’s offerings while ensuring its “white-glove service” remains paramount, he says. The center, which combines communication research and strategies with improvisational techniques to help scientists communicate their research, serves a number of prominent agencies and institutions such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Department of Defense, and the University of Oklahoma.

“Now more than ever, we need to make sure scientists and researchers are able to share their findings in a way that’s easy for the average person to understand – even if that person has no prior knowledge of the subject,” Evan says. “I wholeheartedly agree with the Alda Center’s mission of promoting effective science communication and expanding the scope of science and technology. I love technology, and I want people to be able to understand and not be afraid of things like machine learning.”

He has already helped automate several data gathering operations to simplify contractual procedures between the center and its clients. Beyond the professional development services that made it a national leader, the Alda Center works closely with the SoCJ to offer various graduate programs in science communication. Evan hopes to further collaboration between the school and the center by nurturing those programs and developing new initiatives.

“I’m really doing a deep dive into everything we offer and each component of our current processes,” he says. “The ultimate goal is to help take the Alda Center to the next level while supporting this exciting era of growth for the SoCJ as a whole.”