Assistant Director of Strategic Communications

Description

The University of New Haven, founded on the Yale campus in 1920, is a private, coeducational university that has been recognized by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report for academic excellence. Located between New York City and Boston in the shoreline city of West Haven, the University is a diverse and vibrant community of nearly 8,800 students from across the globe.

Within the University of New Haven’s colleges and schools, students immerse themselves in a transformative, career-focused education across engineering, health sciences and healthcare, business, law enforcement and public service, the liberal arts and sciences, and the fine arts.

Over the last decade, the University has completed more than $300 million in major capital projects while launching 26 new academic programs. The University has also added campuses in Tuscany, Italy, and Orange, Conn.

For more background on the University of New Haven please visit: www.newhaven.edu

The University of New Haven: Campus tour given by students and an overview message from Chancellor Steve Kaplan.

 

GENERAL STATEMENT OF DUTIES: 

 

Play a central role as part of the digital content and media relations team, shaping new, innovative, and measurable communications strategies that are designed to enhance the visibility and awareness of the University, its key programs and senior leaders, and what differentiates the University in a highly competitive higher education marketplace. This individual will be an expert communicator, with experience in executive communications, media relations, storytelling and digital/multimedia communications. 

 

CORE DUTIES:

 

Primary Responsibilities  

• Writing strategic communications (under the direction of the Director of Communications and Public Relations) 
  • Speeches/talking points 
  • Op-eds and thought pieces for senior leaders  
  • Executive-level University-wide communications 
• Overseeing the strategic development and writing of communications related to key University priorities, such as the strategic plan and diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging (DEIAB) initiatives 
• Establishing a collaboration with communication faculty members to create an ongoing program in which communication students as part of their classes or independently create multimedia content about student life, campus programming, and key University initiatives to showcase on social media, website, and Charger Blog  
• Pursuing placements in national media with a focus on higher education-specific publications that feature the University’s senior leaders and/or tell the story of the University and our signature programs  
• Providing editorial and communication support for major campus events including Commencement and Convocation, among others 
• Assisting with crisis communications and social media monitoring, as needed 
• Engaging regularly with faculty and students to cultivate relationships and identify content opportunities. 
• Collaborating with members of the content team to develop new ways to promote and tell the story of the University and our community members 

Secondary Responsibilities 

• Preparing articles, press releases, and other content for dissemination to the media 
• Creating opportunities to collaborate with professors, individual students, and classes to feature student-created work across the University’s website and social media channels  
• Establishing new ways to repurpose content created across the website and social media as well as earned media to maximize the impact of this material in reaching strategic goals 
• Developing and pursuing new ideas for social media and website content as well as strategies that create new media exposure for University leadership and signature programs  
• Working closely with Director of Communications and Media Relations; Digital Content Producer; and Media Relations Coordinator to implement a comprehensive editorial calendar and measure KPIs of created content 
• Other duties as assigned by the Director of Communication and Public Relations and Senior Executive Director of Marketing and Communications in order to meet the goals of marketing and communications and the mission of the University

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS, KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college/university in a related field of study such as communications, public relations, journalism, writing, English and a minimum of three years of related experience.  
• Must be an effective writer, editor, storyteller, interviewe