Jayne Spittler - Hall of Class 2017

Jayne Zenaty Spittler '71
Contributor

Clarke University Trustee Emerita and Woodstock, Ill., native Jayne Zenaty Spittler and fellow 2017 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Steve Drake and Charlie Ellis are credited with launching Clarke’s first intercollegiate program – women’s basketball – in 1974. The trio worked in collaboration and each brought unique skills to the project, which had a goal of increasing Clarke’s enrollment.

Spittler began her career as a chemistry and physics teacher at Kapaun-Mt. Carmel High School in Wichita, Kan., where she was an assistant girls’ basketball coach and girls’ track coach. She coached Clarke’s first women’s basketball team and served as the college’s assistant director of public relations from 1974 to 1976.

As a graduate student in the Mass Media Ph.D. Program at Michigan State University, Spittler was a teaching and research assistant in the Department of Telecommunications. She was an assistant professor of telecommunications at Indiana University from 1979 to 2001. Spittler served as senior vice president, Global Director of Media Research, Starcom Mediavest Group (formerly Leo Burnett) from 1981 to 2001.

Spittler has been honored as a Media All-Star, has been cited as the Advertising Woman of the Year and is an oft-invited speaker on the future of media and technology.

Following her retirement in 2001, Spittler has been in give-back mode—to the swimming community as official and mentor, and to people who need the comfort of a therapy dog in hospitals and nursing home.  She has served as a USA Swimming National Championship official and as an NCAA Championship Swimming official. She also serves as a pet partner therapy dog handler and evaluator, and as a high school swim coach.

Spittler has been recognized as an Illinois Swimming Volunteer of the Year, as a Maxwell Award winner for exceptional officials, and as a USA Swimming Phillips 66 Service Award winner.

Spittler described her Clarke experience as being a woman in the sciences surrounded by great female leaders who prepared her for a demanding graduate program that opened doors at advertising agency Leo Burnett and its various spinoffs and mergers.

Spittler received her bachelor of arts degree in chemistry and computer science from Clarke, graduating Summa Cum Laude.  She received her Ph.D. in mass media from Michigan State University.

Jayne and her husband, Joe, have two children, Ron and Brian.