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Ira Thor
Associate Vice President for University Communications and Marketing/University Spokesperson
Marketing and Communications
Summary
Education
- B.A., Communications (Broadcast Journalism), William Paterson University `00
Abridged Bio
Ira Thor is Associate Vice President for University Communications and Chief Communications Officer at New Jersey City University. In that role, he oversees all executive, external, internal, crisis and legislative communications, and social media at the University, and is the spokesperson for the University. Additionally, he manages the university's brand and enrollment marketing strategies and initiatives and oversees NJCU's Department of Marketing and Communications. Prior to April 2023, Thor was previously the Senior Director of University Communications and Media Relations, handling all communications efforts at NJCU.
Additional Information
Extended Bio
Ira Thor is Associate Vice President for University Communications and Chief Communications Officer at New Jersey City University. In that role, he oversees all executive, external, internal, crisis and legislative communications, and social media at the University, and is the spokesperson for the University. Additionally, he manages the university's brand and enrollment marketing strategies and initiatives and oversees NJCU's Department of Marketing and Communications. Prior to April 2023, Thor was previously the Senior Director of University Communications and Media Relations, handling all communications efforts at NJCU.
Now in his 24th year at the university, he previously spent 20 years in the NJCU athletics department, most recently as assistant director of athletics for strategic communications, where he revolutionized the institution's athletic communications effort over the course of his highly-regarded career since joining the University community in August 2000.
Thor was named to the 2024 ROI-NJ Higher Education Influencers in May 2024 and praised for his proactive outreach, accurate and informative communication and timely insights throughout the financial emergency, and the recovery and revitalization of the university since. In May 2024, he was also selected as the Robert J. Delaney Service Above Self Award recipient. The honor is presented annually to an individual or individuals who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in the community, campus, classroom, and sport and whose personal and professional pursuits have served the greater good and best personify the attributes for which Bob Delaney is known.
A multi award-winning national leader in the athletic communications industry, he served three years on the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Board of Directors, two years as the fourth-ever president of D3SIDA, and the final chair of the College Division Management Advisory Committee (CDMAC). He is currently a member of the NCAA Division III Baseball National Committee. In Fall 2019, NJCU was featured on ESPN SportsCenter three times in 42 days, including a No. 2 and No. 3 Top Play.
Thor orchestrated the nomination process for NJCU legend Bob Delaney `85 to receive the 2020 NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award—the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest honor. Delaney is the first recipient ever from a college or university in the state of New Jersey and only the second from a Division III public school. Again in 2020, Thor's four-year efforts to promote the inspirational story of men's basketball student-athlete Sam Toney culminated in his being awarded the 2020 USBWA Most Courageous Award—the first-ever Division III male selected. Thor remains the play-by-play voice of the Gothic Knights in many sports. Thor is a member of the NECVA Hall of Fame as an athletics administrator and the Fair Lawn High School Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of a championship team.
Outside of NJCU, Thor has served as the internal public address/press box voice for the New York Giants since December 2014 and as the crew chief and head statistician for the New York Jets since the 2018 season. A national and regional broadcaster for collegiate and professional sports, public address announcer and voiceover artist, he handles play-by-play for the National Volleyball Association (NVA) and often appears on such networks as the Big Ten Network, ESPN+/ESPN3, NCAA.com, AmericaEast TV, and NEC Front Row. Beginning in 2024, he is the arena voice of the Professional Women's Hockey Leaguue (PWHL) New York franchise at UBS Arena.
Heavily involved in community service in his current hometown of Howell Township, N.J., Thor is currently serving his third term as an elected member of the Howell Township Board of Education, overwhelmingly re-elected in 2023. He holds a B.A. in Communications (Broadcast Journalism) from William Paterson University and is pursuing an MBA at NJCU. Thor resides in Howell with his wife Kathryn, and three children — Gavin, Kendra, and Julia. He is a native of Fair Lawn, N.J. He was inducted into the Fair Lawn High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 in the sport of volleyball.