SCOM Alumnus Julian Hills Becomes Speechwriter at Georgia Tech

Posted by Michael Walsh on

School of Communication alumnus Julian Hills joined the Institute Communications staff at Georgia Tech as a writer for the president and executive administration staff.

His new role comes after an extensive career in television and PR, but Hills says it truly came about because of a conversation he had with his father back when he was a student at Florida State.

“I was an English major who wanted to get his degree in Creative Writing, but my father basically told me that writing would be obsolete during my career,” said Hills. “From how he described it, he literally came up with ChatGPT in that conversation. Though I thought he was crazy, I decided to change my major to Communication.”

Hills holding an endowed scholarship created by the Pinellas Seminole Club during his time as club president.

That decision would not only launch his fifteen-year career as a television news producer, but also lay the foundation for what came next.

“The mix of students, resources, and a good variety of classes not only got me involved in TV, but showed me other parts of communication that I didn’t know existed,” said Hills, who went on to serve as a PR Specialist for Pinellas County Government from 2015-2021 and as Deputy Press Secretary for the Atlanta Mayor’s Office in 2021. “The PR part of my career is pretty new, but it was a natural progression. I just gravitated to something that used my writing skills and love for communicating with people.”

That love for communicating has also shined through in Hills’s continued work with Florida State University, which saw him serve as the President of the Pinellas County Seminole Alumni Club from 2015-2018.

“I was handling social media, making marketing collateral, and publicly speaking on behalf of the University, which became things that now I know I can do,” said Hills. “Doing it for Georgia Tech is literally an extension of the work I did on behalf of FSU.”

Hills’s father and mother at an FSU football game.

Even at a different institution, Hills’s career is still rooted in FSU and, more importantly, in a conversation that happened almost thirty years ago.

“My favorite part about visiting FSU is that I can go to Westcott Fountain and find the brick I bought with my father’s name on it. He passed away in 2004 and he was such a big FSU fan. And honestly, his talk with me about changing my major way back in December of 1996 is why I am who I am and doing what I’m doing today.”