July 14, 2008

AMHERST, Mass. - UMass Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations Jason Yellin has announced the hiring of two staffers on a full-time basis in the media relations office. David Gunn and Jillian Jakuba have both been hired to the position of Assistant Media Relations Director/ Multimedia Coordinator.

Gunn moves into a new role at UMass after holding the title of Media Relations Assistant during the 2007-08 academic year, serving as the primary media contact for field hockey, women's basketball, and baseball, while also assisting with various other UMass athletic teams, specifically football and men's basketball.

In 2006-07, Gunn worked in the UMass Media Relations office on as well, assisting with a broad range of sports, concentrating primarily on football, men's and women's basketball, hockey, and baseball.

During his time at UMass, Gunn has worked at several conference and NCAA tournament events, including official scoring at the 2007 Hockey East Tournament and the 2007 NCAA Softball Regional held in Amherst.

Originally from Dexter, N.Y., Gunn is a 2002 graduate of SUNY Cortland with a bachelor's degree in Sport Management. He also worked for the Syracuse SkyChiefs baseball team.

Jakuba comes to UMass from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa., where she served as the Assistant Director of Athletic Communications for three years and was the primary contact for the Bison women's soccer, women's volleyball, wrestling, swimming & diving and baseball teams. She served as host SID for several conference tournaments, including the 2006 and 2007 Patriot League Women's Soccer Tournaments and the 2007 Patriot League Swimming & Diving Championships

Prior to her stint at Bucknell, Jakuba was an athletic communications assistant at the University of Connecticut during 2004-05. At UConn, Jakuba worked with the men's soccer, women's volleyball, men's ice hockey, softball and cross country/track & field programs.

Jakuba came to UConn from Franklin Pierce in Rindge, N.H., where she was the assistant sports information director and also served as the media relations director for the Keene Swamp Bats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

A native of Newburgh, N.Y., Jakuba graduated from Boston University in 2003 with a degree in communications and was a member of the Terriers' women's ice hockey club team.

Also, UMass has officially announced the promotions of Yellin from Assistant Athletic Director to Associate Athletic Director and John SInnett from Assistant Director to Associate Media Relations Director. Both assumed those positions in the Fall of 2007 originally.