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Associate Director of Communications - Engineering Administration (143739)

Job Details

Description:

Associate Director of Communications

Marketing & Communications Office

The Grainger College of Engineering

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer that recruits and hires qualified candidates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability or veteran status. For more information, visit http://go.illinois.edu.EEO.

PRIMARY POSITION FUNCTION/SUMMARY:

This position­ serves to promote the college’s reputation as a global leader in engineering education and research through editorial and news writing, and media relations and will develop long-term strategic communications solutions in support of Grainger Engineering and its various units/departments. This leadership position has responsibility to create, manage and execute strategic communication plans to achieve desired business results, including internal and external audiences.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Management of Internal/External Communication Activities

  • Manage and develop public relations communication plans and tactics as well as responses to the news.
  • Manage participation of college faculty and staff in interviews with the press.
  • Develop and deliver media training as needed for individuals and groups across the college.
  • Build and nurture relationships with influencers and media partners to amplify brand promise.
  • Establish and maintain relationships with appropriate business, mainstream, and trade news organizations and reporters.
  • Supervise work of freelancers, academic hourlies, and consultants who are working on PR projects.
  • Evaluate and hire freelancers and consultants as needed.
  • Work with public relations consultants in developing thought leadership strategies and tactics.
  • Serve as point of contact for media contacts, handle press conferences, interviews, statements, etc.
  • Monitor industry and market-related news and events to assess opportunities for rapid response and proactive media outreach.
  • Seek out, evaluate, and facilitate speaking opportunities for administrators.
  • Analyze media coverage and develop effective reporting on the impact of media coverage and relation management.
  • In coordination with the Assistant Dean for Marketing & Communications, staff the dean for interviews, writing speeches, video scripts, webinars, etc.
  • Mentor other staff writers and student workers within the office.

Strategic College Communications

  • Responsible for generating ideas for strategic brand communications that spur conversations both internally and externally around the college and its programs and people.
  • Leverage key brand cultural moments into executions that are timely, relevant, and impactful.
  • Serve as team lead to develop strategic messaging objectives for telling the Grainger Engineering story, and maintain editorial oversight of public communications to ensure language, information and intended purpose are aligned with college and university strategic goals, as well as the university brand.
  • Determine, direct, and develop strategic messaging for various stakeholder groups, working closely with all college communicators.
  • Craft and pitch stories to local, regional, statewide, and national media outlets.
  • Edit, create, maintain, and publish information to all assigned communication channels and collateral, including but not limited to, web properties, email, social media, video, and print.
  • Coordinate with marketing team to develop and produce high quality brand videos for various stakeholder groups.
  • Be creative and resourceful in identifying and executing new projects.
  • Provide support to the Assistant Dean for Marketing & Communications in developing public communications on behalf of college leadership including remarks, presentations, emails, newsletters, etc.
  • Provide coordination, editorial, writing, and other services to projects as requested by COE administrators, faculty, and staff ensuring their communication and marketing projects are aligned with strategies created by Grainger Engineering’s Office of Marketing & Communications.
  • Collaborate with and lead college communicators in departments, units, and institutes to ensure messaging is consistent with college goals and plans, and the university brand.
  • Provide leadership and support the professional development of unit communicators.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required:

  • Bachelor’s degree in communications, journalism, radio/television broadcasting, web/digital media, or a related field.
  • 5 years of professional work experience in journalism, public relations, social media communications, newspaper reporting, radio/television broadcasting with emphasis on production, or web/digital media
  • Experience in news and feature writing as well as copy development, proofreading, and editing
  • Experience in project planning and management and leading teams
  • Practical experience in media relations, electronic communications, publication production, and strategic communication planning

Preferred:

  • Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business administration, communications, public relations, or a closely related field.
  • 7 years of recent experience in editing, writing, media, public relations, or marketing
  • Communication and marketing experience in a college of engineering, university, or non-profit setting

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

  • Strong interpersonal team skills and the ability to work independently

SALARY AND APPOINTMENT INFORMATION

This is a full-time Civil Service Public Information Associate position appointed on a 12-month service basis. The expected start date is as soon as possible after April 28, 2021. Salary is commensurate with experience.

To Apply:

Applications must be received by April 28, 2021. Apply for this position using the “Apply for Position” button below. If you have not applied before, you must create your candidate profile at http://jobs.illinois.edu. If you already have a profile, you will be redirected to that existing profile via email notification. To complete the application process:

Step 1) Submit the Staff Vacancy Application.

Step 2) Submit the Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability forms.

Step 3) Upload the following documents:

  • cover letter
  • resume (months and years of employment must be included)
  • academic credentials (unofficial transcripts or copy of diploma may be acceptable) for all degrees attained
  • names/contact information for three references
  • In order to be considered as a transfer candidate, you must apply for this position using the “Apply for Position” button below. Applications not submitted through this website will not be considered. For further information about this specific position, contact Rachael MF Coleman at rfoll2@illinois.edu. For questions about the application process, please contact 217-333-2137.

    The University of Illinois conducts criminal background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer. As a qualifying federal contractor, the University of Illinois System uses E-Verify to verify employment eligibility. The University of Illinois System requires candidates selected for hire to disclose any documented finding of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment and to authorize inquiries to current and former employers regarding findings of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment. For more information, visit Policy on Consideration of Sexual Misconduct in Prior Employment.

    College Name or Administrative Unit:Engineering Category:2-Administrative Title:Associate Director of Communications - Engineering Administration (143739) Open Date:04/02/2021 Close Date:04/28/2021 Organization Name:Engineering Administration

    Organization

    Since its founding in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has earned a reputation as a world-class leader in research, teaching, and public engagement.

    Faculty

    A talented and highly respected faculty is the University's most significant resource. Many are recognized for exceptional scholarship with memberships in such organizations as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering. 

    Our faculty have been awarded Nobel Prizes, Pulitzer Prizes, and the Fields Medal in Mathematics.The success of our faculty is matched by that of our alumni: 11 are Nobel laureates and another 18 have won Pulitzer Prizes.

    Academic Resources

    Academic resources on campus are among the finest in the world. The University Library is one of the largest public university collections in the world with 11 million volumes in its 37 unit libraries. Annually, 53,000,000 people visit its online catalog. Students have access to thousands of computer terminals in classrooms, residence halls, and campus libraries for use in classroom instruction, study, and research.

    Research

    Students and scholars find the University an ideal place to conduct research. The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology is a model for interdisciplinary research, where eighteen research groups from sixteen University departments work within and across three broadly defined themes: biological intelligence, human-computer intelligent interaction, and molecular and electronic nanostructures. The University is also home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

    Undergraduate Education

    The University has a fundamental commitment to undergraduate education. Nearly 28,000 undergraduate students are enrolled in nine undergraduate divisions, which together offer some 4,000 courses in more than 150 fields of study.

    Undergraduate admission is highly selective. In the 2001 freshman class, students in the middle 50% had ACT scores between 25 and 30 and ranked between the 83rd and 96th percentiles of their high school graduating classes.

    The University enrolls over 9,000 graduate and professional students in more than 100 disciplines. It is among the top five universities in number of earned doctorates awarded annually in the United States.

    Also integral to the University's mission is a commitment to public engagement. Each year about 65,000 Illinois residents participate in scores of conferences, institutes, courses, and workshops presented statewide. Research and class projects take students and professors off campus to share expertise and technical support with Illinois farmers, manufacturing firms, and businesses. In a typical year, student volunteers log more than 60,000 volunteer hours.

    The Arts

    A major center for the arts, the campus attracts dozens of nationally and internationally renowned artists each year to its widely acclaimed Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The University also supports two major museums: the Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion; and the Spurlock Museum, a museum of world history and culture. 

    Other major facilities include the multipurpose Assembly Hall (16,500 seats); Memorial Stadium (70,000 seats), site of Big Ten Conference football games; and the Intramural-Physical Education Building, one of the largest recreational facilities of its kind on a university campus.

    Inclusive Illinois, one campus, many voices

    Inclusive Illinois is the University’s commitment to cultivating a community at Illinois where everyone is welcomed, celebrated, and respected. Illinois is about how we value difference to make a difference. http://www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu/

    As evidence of the University’s commitment to enhance the working, living, and learning environment for faculty, staff, and students, the University will encourage a standard of conduct and behavior that is consistent with the values of inclusivity. In an environment of inclusivity, there is no place for acts of hatred, intolerance, insensitivity, bigotry, threats of violence, harassment or discrimination.

    Inclusive Illinois, one campus, many voices

    Inclusive Illinois is the University’s commitment to cultivating a community at Illinois where everyone is welcomed, celebrated, and respected. Through education, engagement, and excellence, each voice creates the Inclusive Illinois Experience.

    How can we appreciate difference to make a difference?

    Illinois is the place where we embrace difference. We embrace it because we value it. We value it because we know that we have so much to learn from each other in our living, learning, and working environment.

    Illinois is the place where we recognize the power of possibility and where great potential is realized. Inclusive Illinois is the vision of that place: a vision made real by leadership and commitment.

    Illinois is the place where consensus is forged by discourse and where everyone’s contributions are recognized: significant contributions that elevate us because they are informed and enhanced by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, age, physical ability, religion, class, and national origin. We are enriched by these perspectives, and we are united by the very discourse that brings these views together.

    It is a process. It is transformative. And we celebrate the remarkable changes we set in motion here … taking an important step … crossing boundaries … starting with our own.

    It all starts with each of us: with our willingness to embark on the journey in the search for answers, and with our openness and acceptance of the answers we find. Illinois is the place where it all comes together.

    Learn more about how Inclusive Illinois promotes diversity here.

    Commitment to Equal Opportunity

    The commitment of the University to the most fundamental principles of academic freedom, equality of opportunity, and human dignity requires that decisions involving students and employees be based on individual merit and be free from invidious discrimination in all its forms, whether or not specifically prohibited by law. Among the forms of invidious discrimination prohibited by the University policy but not law is discrimination, including harassment, on the basis of sexual orientation. Complaints of invidious discrimination in violation of University policy are to be resolved within existing University procedures. The policy of the University of Illinois is to comply with all federal and state nondiscrimination, equal opportunity, and affirmative action laws, orders, and regulations. The University will not engage in discrimination or harassment against any person because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, unfavorable discharge from the military, or status as a disabled veteran or a veteran of the Vietnam era. This nondiscrimination policy applies to admissions, employment, and access to and treatment in University programs and activities

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