Job Description

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Position Details

Position Information

Position Title Director of Communications

Job Function Administrative

Worker Category Full Time

Indicate Scheduled Hours Per Pay 35

Duration of Appointment

Semester Appointment Term

Position Summary

Reporting to the Vice President of Communications and Marketing, the Director of Communications is responsible for enhancing the College’s visibility and reputation through a strategic mix of communications initiatives, including media relations, digital content development, social media, and internal/external communications in support of the College’s academic, and admissions goals, and institutional priorities.

The Director plans, develops, implements, and assesses information and communication strategies including coordinating and overseeing content development, packaging, and dissemination, and works closely with the Vice President for Communications and Marketing in managing major communication initiatives to ensure effective communication with stakeholders, media, and the public.

This position requires deep knowledge of the College’s priorities and current issues in higher education, trends in media outreach and engagement, and sound judgement. Additionally, this position often handles highly sensitive and confidential information, which requires discretion, tact, and carefully weighed responses, often without warning or preparation.

In addition to handling external issues, this position is responsible for providing official responses to the news media, sometimes in high pressured situations, which requires quick thinking and measured responses. This position not only provides crucial input in the development of content strategy for media relations, but also offers media guidance to campus partners, including Office of the President and senior administrators.

This position serves as key liaison between members of the news media and ACPHS administration and faculty; develops and fosters relationships with key regional and national reporters and trade editors who cover higher education and related issues; proactively develops relationships across campus and regularly attends community meetings and other events on campus to understand issues and better promote positive stories of potential interest to the media. The position is also responsible for high-level interactions with the President’s Office, Cabinet members, key College administrators, and students.

Required Qualifications

Strategic Communications Planning: Plans, manages, coordinates, and oversees all communications efforts on behalf of the College to its diverse audiences, including prospective students, families, alumni, donors, the ACPHS community, media, and others. Develop, execute, and monitor annual communications plan that supports the College’s strategic plan, provide reports on analytics.
Content Development and Deployment: Proactively collaborate with Communications and Marketing colleagues, and other College employees to develop timely, authentic, and engaging web and social media content. In consultation with Communications and Marketing colleagues, oversees website content management, and the development and distribution of digital content for the College’s websites and social media accounts, and other digital properties. Collaborates with Director of Marketing to ensure consistency of the College’s brand across all web, digital, and social media channels. Leads development of content within brand guidelines for broad and targeted audiences, provide support and direction for collateral and websites.
Public/Media Relations: Develop annual media relations objectives, strategies, and tactics in support of the College’s strategic plan. Provide detailed reports to share media coverage with constituents. Work closely with the Vice President for Communications and Marketing to produce engaging news stories and features about the College for use on the ACPHS College website, news media, social media, and other communications channels. Serve as spokesperson for the College as needed and work closely with the VP to coordinate responses to campus emergencies, crises, and controversial issues, working closely with the President, Cabinet, Campus Safety, Student Affairs, legal counsel, and others as needed. Develop and maintain strong relationships with local, national, and international news media. Manage incoming media inquiries and outgoing media outreach initiatives, oversee tracking and measuring of media placements, including the compilation and distribution of media highlights and monthly reports. Develop and manage faculty websites for use as a tool to proactively publicize work and research of ACPHS faculty and administration. Establish regular, proactive outreach to faculty and administrators and provide media training to faculty experts.

Evaluate regional and national issues for potential story opportunities. Manage preemptive reputation management efforts on behalf of the College.

Supervisory Duties: Supervise team members, including Managing Editor, Videographer, and others as assigned, including directing job responsibilities, training, and delegating tasks and projects as needed. Responsible for managing freelance creatives, and serves as the key contact for PR agency relationships.
Communications Support: Provide communications support to the Office of the President, and senior administrative leaders, including managing outgoing correspondence and responses, and managing internal communications and emails. Support the VP of Communications and Marketing and President with the development of presentations to share communications strategies and results with College constituents.
Internal Communications: Oversee development of weekly digital newsletter for on-campus audience. Suggest, write, and edit stories and content, manage the population of newsletter templates, and oversee distribution to campus constituents.
Event Communications Strategy and Support: Assist the Vice President for Communications and Marketing in coordinating content strategy, development and distribution, and other divisional operations, including all-hands efforts in support of major College events (Commencement, Inauguration, annual campus meetings and retreats, etc.).
Other duties as assigned.

Education and Experience:

Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, journalism, English or related field.

5-7+ years of experience leading a high-performing marketing/communications team.

Experience in higher education preferred, including developing and executing marketing plans with clear, measurable objectives.

Prior experience developing content and managing social media channels for an organization.

Preferred Qualifications

Physical Demands

Posting Details

Posting Number Non-Acad1942014

Desired Start Date 08/03/2022

Position End Date (if temporary)

Open Date

Application Deadline

Open Until Filled Yes

Special Instructions to Applicants

Applicant Documents

Required Documents

Cover Letter
Resume
Writing Sample / Portfolio
List of References
Representative Examples of Prior Work

Optional Documents

This job was posted on Sun Jul 24 2022 and expired on Thu Aug 04 2022.

Minimum $14K /yr

$88K /yr Average

Maximum $290K /yr

Tasks

Respond to requests for information from the media or designate an appropriate spokesperson or information source.

Write press releases or other media communications to promote clients.

Establish or maintain cooperative relationships with representatives of community, consumer, employee, or public interest groups.

Plan or direct development or communication of programs to maintain favorable public or stockholder perceptions of an organization's accomplishments, agenda, or environmental responsibility.

Study the objectives, promotional policies, or needs of organizations to develop public relations strategies that will influence public opinion or promote ideas, products, or services.

Coach client representatives in effective communication with the public or with employees.

Update and maintain content posted on the Web.

Confer with other managers to identify trends or key group interests or concerns or to provide advice on business decisions.

Prepare or edit organizational publications, such as employee newsletters or stockholders' reports, for internal or external audiences.

Coordinate public responses to environmental management incidents or conflicts.

Arrange public appearances, lectures, contests, or exhibits for clients to increase product or service awareness or to promote goodwill.

Develop plans or materials to communicate activities undertaken by organizations that are beneficial to the environment, public safety, or other important social issues.

Prepare or deliver speeches to further public relations objectives.

Confer with production or support personnel to produce or coordinate production of advertisements or promotions.

Consult with advertising agencies or staff to arrange promotional campaigns in all types of media for products, organizations, or individuals.

Plan or conduct market or public opinion research to test products or determine potential for product success, communicating results to client or management.

Develop marketing campaigns for environmental technologies or services.

Purchase advertising space or time as required to promote client's product or agenda.

Skills

Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.

Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.

Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.

Knowledge

Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.

Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.