The University of Kansas has a new director of news and media relations, and she previously held a similar job at archrival Kansas State University.

KU announced Monday that Erinn Barcomb-Peterson had started the director’s job on the Lawrence campus after nine years at Kansas State.

Barcomb-Peterson holds a journalism degree from the University of Kansas. She worked as a reporter for The Eudora News and design editor for The Ottawa Herald before going to work for Kansas State’s news and editorial services in 2005. She became director there in 2011.

The KU job became open when Jill Jess Phythyon took a similar position in March at Ohio State University’s College of Nursing. KU School of Medicine Communications Director David Martin replaced her temporarily.