Who Benefits

Alumni

You don’t join an airline without expecting a little turbulence. But even the everyday crises Gus Whitcomb ’87 encounters at American Airlines couldn’t possibly have prepared him for the events of September 11, 2001.

As American’s managing director of strategic communications, Whitcomb (B.A. communications-public relations) had to shelve personal feelings to meet professional duties. He and the corporate communications team worked alongside other American Airlines staff coordinating crisis-response efforts with the FBI and with United Airlines, the other affected carrier.

Whitcomb says he still draws on lessons he learned at Cal State Fullerton. Particularly memorable is a PR campaign he and a few classmates developed in response to campus suicides. Called “Turn a Friend Onto Life,” it featured information they compiled about mental health resources, support groups they formed, and a play, written by Sam Shepard, that they produced and which was performed by the Theatre and Dance Department.