Dawn named general manager

 MOLINE, IL – Dawn Schmitt has been named the general manager at WQPT of the Quad Cities at Western Illinois University, effective Dec. 1.

Schmitt has served as the interim general manager since January 2019. In this role, she is responsible for the station's strategic plan, developing new partnerships with the station, working with donors and other members of the general public, scheduling programming and managing the station's grants. She also continues to serve as WQPT's senior business manager, a position she has held since September 2010. In this role, Schmitt is responsible for maintaining the station's financial records, preparing the station's annual budget, ensuring compliance with federal and state agencies and developing the station's internship program. Before joining WQPT, Schmitt was the senior accounting clerk for IPCS Wireless in Geneseo from 2006-2010. She has also worked as an accounting clerk with IPCS in Davenport (2005-2006).

"Including her most recent role as interim general manager, Dawn brings several years of experience and a dedication to the mission of public television that positions her to lead WQPT into the future," said Associate Provost and Quad Cities Campus Administrator-in-Charge Kristi Mindrup. "As permanent director and general manager, Dawn will lead WQPT initiatives and collaborations that connect viewers in the region to national and local education, entertainment and cultural programming; and educational outreach to Quad Cities area youth, educators, and schools."

Schmitt earned her master's degree from the University of Illinois-Springfield and her bachelor's degree from Culver-Stockton College.

WQPT PBS serves more than 800,000 residents in eastern Iowa and western and north-central Illinois. The station has been a public media service of WIU since 2010. What began as a vision by a small group of dedicated citizens in 1983, with just four hours of daily programming, now provides viewers access to programming delivered across open-air signals, cable/dish providers and on-demand LIVE and on demand digital delivery. In addition to the primary public television channel, WQPT also broadcasts a secondary channel, Deutsche Welle.