Cinnamon Blair

Cinnamon Blair became KU's chief strategic communication officer and vice chancellor in September 2025.

In this role, Cinnamon leads all communications, marketing, branding and message integration across all KU units, campuses and affiliates. As a member of the University Cabinet, she serves as an advisor to Chancellor Girod and senior leaders on issues of communications, marketing and public affairs. Additionally, she serves as KU’s liaison with communications partners throughout the higher education community.

Prior to joining KU, Cinnamon spent more than 20 years at The University of New Mexico, where she served as chief marketing and communications officer. In that role, she was a member of the president’s leadership team and served as the university's senior advisor on communications, media and public relations, and marketing initiatives. She directed and managed UNM's strategic marketing and communications functions, including branding, strategic planning, social media strategies, media and public relations, and critical events strategies. In doing so, she ensured the university was communicating with one voice to all stakeholder groups, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, state lawmakers and federal officials. In her time at UNM, Cinnamon built and led UNM’s first centralized communications and marketing function, aligning brand, reputation and messaging priorities across academic, research, health sciences and NCAA Division I athletics programs. Additionally, she directed the university’s most comprehensive rebranding initiative, resulting in award-winning campaigns, strong campus adoption and millions of dollars in operational savings through streamlined services and vendor consolidation.

Cinnamon holds bachelor's degrees in English and political science from Emory University and a master's degree in health education from The University of New Mexico.