Pawley Lean Institute welcomes new hires

The Oakland University Pawley Lean Institute welcomes new hires Amanda Benjamin, project coordinator, and Melanie Zynel, student marketing assistant, to the team.

Formerly the marketing assistant for the Pawley Institute and the Michigan Lean Consortium (MLC), Benjamin has been involved with the Pawley Institute for the past year. She has also worked as a peer mentor for the Center for Multicultural Initiatives at Oakland University.

Benjamin graduated from Oakland University this May with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and minor in communication with a concentration in public relations.

She’s had internships at the OU Communications and Marketing department for media relations, The Oakland Post for marketing, Tanner Friedman Strategic Communications for public relations and the Lapeer Area View newspaper for journalism. She also worked as a freelance correspondent for The Oakland Press.

Highly involved on OU’s campus, Benjamin was president of the Dagorhir Club and editor in chief of the Honors College Echo, an online academic journal for Honors College students.

A member of the Dean’s List, Zynel is a senior at OU majoring in English secondary education with a minor in history.

Beyond the classroom, Zynel has honed her writing and editing skills, creating monthly newsletters for a director of Mary Kay Cosmetics along with contributions to The Oakland Post. She formerly worked as the student office assistant for Oakland University-Macomb at the Macomb Intermediate School District location.

“I am extremely pleased to have both Amanda and Melanie join the Lean Working Team,” said Julianne Leigh, director of budget and the Pawley Institute. “They both bring a wealth of varied experiences, knowledge and skills that will help enhance the Pawley Lean Institute in our future projects.”

Starting July 2010, the Pawley Institute will expand to a new home at the Macomb-OU INCubator in order to allow for more interaction with the community and local businesses, and both Benjamin and Zynel will make the move.

For more information about the Pawley Lean Institute, visit www.oakland.edu/lean.