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PUBLIC RELATIONS SPECIALIST, SENIOR-THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, ADMISSIONS

Employer
Duke University
Location
Dean Enrollment Services

Job Details

Duke University:

Duke University was created in 1924 through an indenture of trust by James Buchanan Duke. Today, Duke is regarded as one of America’s leading research universities. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is positioned in the heart of the Research Triangle, which is ranked annually as one of the best places in the country to work and live. Duke has more than 15,000 students who study and conduct research in its 10 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. With about 40,000 employees, Duke is the third largest private employer in North Carolina, and it now has international programs in more than 150 countries.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Public Relations Specialist, Senior is responsible for planning, coordinating, implementing and maintaining a diversified communication strategy to support the Graduate School’s Strategic Plan. In particular, this position will work with 80+ individual admitting Ph.D. and master’s programs to develop recruitment and yield communication campaigns that will promote The Graduate School’s strategic goal of providing robust support to departments to compete for and recruit the best graduate students.

The Public Relations Specialist, Senior will be responsible for the creation and coordination of communications that keep graduate students, prospective graduate students, and university constituents informed of all aspects of the graduate admissions process.

The Public Relations Specialist, Senior will serve in a leadership role to facilitate optimal responsiveness to applicants’ online support needs. This staff member will cultivate, maintain, and monitor the Admissions Office’s online presence. The Public Relations Specialist, Senior will serve as a liaison between the Admissions Office and other institutional entities that support the needs of incoming graduate students.

DUTIES & WORK PERFORMED:

The Public Relations Specialist, Senior is one of five regular staff members who report to the Associate Dean for Admissions.

Communications

Plan, coordinate and develop a comprehensive and diversified communication strategy in Slate to include identifying objectives, target audiences, tactics and key messages for recruitment and yield initiatives for TGS programs. Consults with each of 80+ TGS admitting Ph.D. and master’s programs to identify program needs and ensure objectives are met. Maintain, update and adjust this plan to meet long-term competitive challenges.

Develop and maintain collaborative working relationships with departments and provide guidance related to content for campaigns, websites, social media, publications and other communication channels to ensure consistency of style, freshness of and usability of content in support of strategic and operational goals.

Collaborate with programs to implement prospect generating strategies to increase applications to the programs and target specific populations that diversify the applicant pool

Establish editorial guidelines and provide oversight for creation of content for various communication campaigns for departments including those related to events and interview scheduling.

Develop and maintain collaborative working relationships with the TGS Director of Communications to ensure consistency of messaging and in website updates. Serve as communications liaison between Graduate Admissions and other campus offices, including International House, Student Information Services and Systems, and Student Health.

Communicate admission decisions to 13,000+ international & U.S. applicants to over 80 graduate programs. Responsible for the decision release process.

Research best practices and recommend the methodology for virtual sessions to address prospective students’ information needs and improve efficiency. Utilize the functionality in Slate to track event attendance. Responsible for coordinating the implementation of and hosting the scheduled sessions sponsored by TGS.

Research, develop, implement and maintain Admissions website resources. Based on awareness of new or updated university directives, take initiative for adding appropriate information to the Admissions website; also solicit information from outside of The Graduate School to obtain updates.

Write and edit admissions interdepartmental correspondence, including the Admissions sections of the Director of Graduate Studies’ manual and the Graduate School Bulletin.

Write, edit, and distribute applicant correspondence, including application instructions, decision letters, enrollment reminder messages, welcome letters, and requests for missing application documents and/or official transcripts.

Data Management

Jointly with the Data Manager ascertain admissions data needs, and create and distribute surveys for the Admissions website.

Analyze website survey feedback to determine ways to improve website effectiveness and user friendliness.

Provide backup data management assistance during busy periods (work with submitted applications, resolving duplicate record errors, and updating applicant files).

Administration and Support

Respond to inquiries from those visiting, emailing, or calling the Graduate School.

Formulate and deliver presentations on admissions communications and processes to graduate program administrative staff.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Hands on experience with Technolutions Slate desired. Experience with social media platforms and knowledge of People Soft Campus Solutions a plus.

Demonstrated written and verbal communication skills in conjunction with strong networking, collaboration and team building skills is essential

Experience working with diverse groups including faculty, administrative staff, and campus technical support professionals

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative and level of the types of duties and responsibilities that will be required of positions given this title and shall not be construed as a declaration of the total of the specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.

Essential Physical Job Functions

Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.

Minimum Qualifications

Education

Work requires the ability to perform creative writing and related activities such as conducting interviews and research, and copy editing normally acquired through attainment of a bachelor's degree in Journalism, English or a related discipline.

Experience

Work requires two years of directly related writing experience. OR AN EQUIVALENT COMBINATION OF RELEVANT EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.

Organization

Read our Diversity Profile History

Duke University was created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke as a memorial to his father, Washington Duke. The Dukes, a Durham family that built a worldwide financial empire in the manufacture of tobacco products and developed electricity production in the Carolinas, long had been interested in Trinity College. Trinity traced its roots to 1838 in nearby Randolph County when local Methodist and Quaker communities opened Union Institute. The school, then named Trinity College, moved to Durham in 1892, where Benjamin Newton Duke served as a primary benefactor and link with the Duke family until his death in 1929. In December 1924, the provisions of indenture by Benjamin’s brother, James B. Duke, created the family philanthropic foundation, The Duke Endowment, which provided for the expansion of Trinity College into Duke University.Duke Campus

As a result of the Duke gift, Trinity underwent both physical and academic expansion. The original Durham campus became known as East Campus when it was rebuilt in stately Georgian architecture. West Campus, Gothic in style and dominated by the soaring 210-foot tower of Duke Chapel, opened in 1930. East Campus served as home of the Woman's College of Duke University until 1972, when the men's and women's undergraduate colleges merged. Both men and women undergraduates now enroll in either the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering. In 1995, East Campus became the home for all first-year students.

Duke maintains a historic affiliation with the United Methodist Church.

Home of the Blue Devils, Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.

Mission Statement

Duke Science"James B. Duke's founding Indenture of Duke University directed the members of the University to 'provide real leadership in the educational world' by choosing individuals of 'outstanding character, ability, and vision' to serve as its officers, trustees and faculty; by carefully selecting students of 'character, determination and application;' and by pursuing those areas of teaching and scholarship that would 'most help to develop our resources, increase our wisdom, and promote human happiness.'

“To these ends, the mission of Duke University is to provide a superior liberal education to undergraduate students, attending not only to their intellectual growth but also to their development as adults committed to high ethical standards and full participation as leaders in their communities; to prepare future members of the learned professions for lives of skilled and ethical service by providing excellent graduate and professional education; to advance the frontiers of knowledge and contribute boldly to the international community of scholarship; to promote an intellectual environment built on a commitment to free and open inquiry; to help those who suffer, cure disease, and promote health, through sophisticated medical research and thoughtful patient care; to provide wide ranging educational opportunities, on and beyond our campuses, for traditional students, active professionals and life-long learners using the power of information technologies; and to promote a deep appreciation for the range of human difference and potential, a sense of the obligations and rewards of citizenship, and a commitment to learning, freedom and truth.Duke Meeting

 “By pursuing these objectives with vision and integrity, Duke University seeks to engage the mind, elevate the spirit, and stimulate the best effort of all who are associated with the University; to contribute in diverse ways to the local community, the state, the nation and the world; and to attain and maintain a place of real leadership in all that we do.”

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