Joseph Pappalardo ’18 joined the college as associate director of media planning Dec. 1.
During his time as a student at Hillsdale, Pappalardo studied marketing with a journalism minor, and almost completed a minor in computational mathematics.
“When I came to Hillsdale in 2014, I had planned to pursue computer science, but the professor retired before I could complete all the courses,” Pappalardo said. “Luckily, Hillsdale’s liberal arts curriculum made it easy to pick up a marketing major and graduate with a very diverse background. I became responsible for the branding and website for The Collegian while still publishing stories and columns.”
Pappalardo said it’s always shocking to alumni how campus has changed, but much is still the same. Some of the dorms did not have air conditioning and the Searle Center was a construction site during his years on campus, he said.
Hillsdale Executive Director of Brand Management Juan Dávalos said Pappalardo was the best candidate for the position.
“The job of the media planner is to create a media strategy for the college’s marketing initiatives and execute that strategy. Joe is working closely with our external agency partners to ensure that every dollar we spend in the market is well spent and yields a good return on our investment,” Dávalos said. “I consider myself blessed to have Joe on our team. He is an incredible asset to the marketing department and the college.”
The marketing department’s goal is to teach 50 million Americans by 2030, Pappalardo said. That number includes Hillsdale’s social media followers, online course enrollees, and other statistics.
“When I tell people I attended Hillsdale, they only recognize it if they’re very conservative,” Pappalardo said. “Our goal is to make Hillsdale a household name.”
Pappalardo said his goal as the media planner is to decide the best channel mix to efficiently grow Hillsdale’s audience.
“Where can we spend our money the best? If you’re running ads on Facebook and YouTube, and YouTube has a better response, you might shift budget there,” Pappalardo said. “We’re also changing the way we promote ourselves on these platforms. We partner with influencers across podcasts and social media. Their audiences receive personalized ads, often read by these media figures, that invite people to try our online courses.”
Pappalardo said he is excited to work with the college’s marketing team to support College President Larry Arnn’s vision for the college.
“Also, I love the Midwest, and it’s great to have a business excuse to visit more often. Cincinnati is only a four-hour drive, so my parents are already looking for ways to time their President’s Club visits around my in-person meetings.”
Pappalardo is the oldest of five sons from Cincinnati, Ohio. He recently became engaged to Caroline Downey, a National Review staff writer and frequent guest on Fox and CNN.
“She’s a huge Hillsdale fan and recently posted a YouTube video wearing a Hillsdale sweater she stole from me,” Pappalardo said. “We both live in New York City and are getting married in Palm Beach, Florida, in February 2027.”
Vice President of Marketing Jon Hall said part of Pappalardo’s job will be working to grow awareness of Hillsdale in the country.
“We’re going to be changing a lot of the way that we define media, and Joe is going to be a huge part of modernizing our media capabilities,” Hall said.
Hall said the college is planning to launch Hillsdale Studios in May, and will also launch an app that Americans can download to view Hillsdale publications, such as the online courses and podcasts.
“We’re evolving our media arm from Imprimis to be more social-led, social first. We’re developing a major app,” Hall said. “With all of what’s going on here, we needed somebody to manage all of our different media.”
Hall was part of the search committee that hired Pappalardo and describes him as smart, driven, motivated, and accountable.
“I would describe him as somebody that you want on your team if you’re trying to win a game,” Hall said. “He’s great.”
