Shane Donaldson is entering his 14th year with the Rhode Island Athletics media relations staff in 2024-25. He currently serves as the primary media relations contact for women's volleyball, men's soccer, men's basketball, women's swimming & diving, softball, and women's tennis. In 2021, he was promoted to Associate Athletic Director for Communication and New Media.
He joined the department in November of 2011. Over the course of his time at Rhode Island, he has served as the primary media relations contact for almost every sport the department offers. In addition to the teams he works directly with, Donaldson also has served as the media contact for football (2011-22), women’s basketball (2012-17), women's rowing (2012-23), men's and women's track & field/cross country (2011-13) and baseball (2021, 2023), as well as the on-site media relations coordinator for the Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championship in 2012 and 2013. He filled the same role for the 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball East Regional.
As part of the senior administration at Rhode Island, Donaldson has been on the search committee for five head coaches: women's basketball head coach Tammi Reiss, men's basketball head coaches David Cox and Archie Miller and women's lacrosse head coach Jenna Slowey. He also led the search for head coach Whitney Goldstein's hire in July of 2021. In her second season, Goldstein led the program to its first postseason bid in 13 years.
Throughout the 2022-23 school year, Donaldson was part of the URI effort to secure $65.8 million in Rhode Island Capital Plan funding from the state for improvements to the athletics complex. Members of the URI Athletics community met with state representatives for several presentations and tours, leading to the approval of the budget allocation. The $65.8 million is the largest state investment for URI Athletics in history.
The media relations staff has trained several dozen interns who have gone on to work in the media relations industry during Donaldson's time at URI. Former interns have gone on to full-time jobs or graduate programs at Army, Boston College, Boston University, Brown, Connecticut, Davidson, Florida Gulf Coast, Providence, Quinnipiac, Stony Brook, Vermont, Villanova, Wisconsin and more. Several other interns have landed full-time media jobs around the country.  Â
Before moving to the Athletics Department, Donaldson worked in URI’s Department of Communications and Marketing from July of 2008 through November of 2011. He was the editor for URI TODAY, the school’s news website, and he handled the University’s social media content for Facebook and Twitter. He also served as the primary source contact for the school's College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Human Science and Services. He was a member of the URI Division of Advancement’s Diversity Task Force, and also served on the school’s committees for Homecoming and Big Chill Weekend.
Donaldson spent two years as the Assistant Sports Information Director at NCAA Division III Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., where he worked closely with all 18 varsity programs the school offered.
He spent several years working in the media as both a sports and news reporter. From 1999 through 2001, Donaldson worked with the New England Patriots team website (patriots.com) and newspaper (Patriots Football Weekly).
Donaldson was hired by the MetroWest Daily News in July of 2002, where he covered professional, college and high school athletics. He also wrote two weekly columns and was a copy editor. In April of 2004 he joined the South County Independent, where he won two New England Press Association awards and one Rhode Island Press Association award for his work.
A native of Middletown, R.I., Donaldson earned his degree from URI in journalism in 1999. He and his wife, Kate, have a son, PJ.
updated: 7/1/2024Â
