Sandy Keaton Leander is the Assistant Director of Media Relations for ASU Knowledge Enterprise (KE). She is leading enterprise-level media relations, which includes preparing news releases, op-eds, articles, videos, talking points, social media content and more. Additionally, she leads strategic communications planning and execution for multiple ASU Knowledge Enterprise units, as well as ongoing multi-million dollar research projects. Sandy conducts individual and group media training for executive leadership and faculty members.
She joins KE after serving eight years as Manager of Media Relations and Marketing for ASU School of Life Sciences, the largest academic unit in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
She has an extensive communications skill set and more than 25 years of experience in multiple industries including higher education, non-profit, utility, and television and radio news broadcasting.
As a marketing, media relations and communications professional, she is highly skilled in everything from local, national and international media relations and social media, to website writing, science communications, collateral development, strategic communications planning and crisis communications. Leander is a former television and radio news anchor/reporter who brings a strong journalistic perspective to all of her work.
She has received numerous communications awards throughout her career including several PRSA Copper Anvil awards, a MarCOM gold award, IABC and APEX awards, as well as four AZ Associated Press Awards (two first-place awards for live spot news reporting). In 1990, she earned the Southern Arizona Environmental Management Society's "Environmental Reporter of the Year" award.
Leander also received the 2016 and 2017 ASU CLAS Marketing Award for Best News Story, and the 2018 CLAS Marketing Award for Best Marketing Campaign, as well as the college's "2018 Commitment Award." In 2018, she also was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International. She is currently a member of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. She is also a member of the Arizona State University Emergency Response Team.
She is a native Arizonan and passionate about the environment, conservation, hiking, storytelling and photography.