Faculty

Jane Praeger

Jane Praeger is the founder and president of Ovid, Inc., a firm that provides speech, presentation, and media training, strategic communications consulting, and customized workshops for corporations, nonprofits, and individuals. Ovid's corporate clients have included The Weather Channel, Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, Euro RSCG Worldwide, Expedia Corporate Travel, and Corbis Inc., as well as other technology, entertainment, and consulting firms. On the nonprofit side, Ovid has worked with Harvard University, The World Health Organization, NYU Medical School, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the American Public Health Association, the Open Society Institute, the International Women's Health Coalition, Girls Inc., Ms. Foundation, and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Ovid conducts interactive workshops throughout the United States on communications skills including crafting and delivering strategic presentations (developed with Columbia colleague Tasha Space), story development and story telling, media training, moderating panels, public speaking, and creative problem solving. Praeger has an extensive background as a writer and producer of radio, television, and film. She has written, produced, and directed award-winning documentary films and videos for PBS, WNET, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Before starting Ovid, Inc., in 1993, Praeger conceived and executed national media campaigns for Pro-Media Public Relations, a social issues public relations firm in New York City, and was the director of communications for the Victim Services Agency (now Safe Horizons), also in New York. Praeger received her bachelor's degree with highest honors from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she was also a graduate teaching fellow in literature and film.

Jane Praeger teaches Delivering the Strategic Message, Advanced Writing Workshop, The Power of Opinion, and Advanced Communications Project.

Jane Praeger on the power of presentation:
"It's not enough to be a brilliant communications strategist. A student must learn how to be a great communicator as well--someone who can inspire an audience to adopt a new brand or radical new idea, and who knows how to listen for the great ideas of others. The program's writing and presentation classes and workshops are critical because students must be able to craft a compelling op-ed, speak on the nightly news, or deliver a convincing pitch to a room full of executives. If these courses are successful, no graduate of the program will ever bore an audience with a text-heavy PowerPoint presentation or put people to sleep with one more tired, predictable speech. Strategic Communications students are expected to become passionate, powerful communicators, as adept at addressing a board of directors as they are at delivering an argument at a town meeting."