Dean of Communications jobs in the United States

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.

Occupational Summary

The Associate Dean for Communications and Marketing is the senior-most executive responsible for communications, marketing, branding and public relations for the Sanford School of Public Policy, and serves as a member of the Dean’s leadership team. The incumbent will bring an entrepreneurial spirit with the ability to push and challenge the school in its approach to branding, messaging and communications throughout the School’s internal community as well as across the university, local, state and national communications. As a dynamic leader and change agent, the Associate Dean’s goal will be to reinforce existing communications strengths and to further establish an agile, substantive communications platform for proactive messaging that elevates the Sanford School brand.

As a strategic advisor, the Associate Dean will provide counsel and expertise in communications and marketing to the Dean and senior leadership of the School and work to advance the strategic priorities of the School. This person will be responsible for setting and communicating the direction of the School’s central communications team, with responsibilities for media relations, social media, content development and strategy, web services, creative services, internal communications and oversight and promotion of public events. The Associate Dean will create a vision and strategic priorities that reflect the School’s vision and mission and addresses target audiences and key stakeholders, as well as ensuring alignment and consistency of communications across the university. The Associate Dean will also cultivate and sustain beneficial and collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders to advance the School’s strategic communications priorities, and will represent the School in collaborative communications activities for interdisciplinary initiatives.

The Associate Dean for Communications and Marketing will work closely with the Associate Dean for Development &Alumni Relations to maintain the strong collaborative working relationships between the two areas, guided by their shared focus on external affairs. The Associate Dean for Communications and Marketing will also work closely with the Associate Dean for Academic programs concerning communications with prospective students. This focus includes maintaining collaboration among the teams and also creating a collaborative working relationship with all of the academic departments in the School, expanding the School's reach through new partnerships and donor relationships and strengthening the School's brand. 

Work Performed

Communications

• Create, design, implement and sustain integrated marketing and communication plans (external and internal) that support the Sanford School's strategic plan, brand strategy and mission. The plan will include quantitative and qualitative goals and objectives; strategies to measure progress against those goals; timelines, budgets, and responsibilities defined.
• Evaluate School-wide communication resources, and develop recommendations for building a cohesive, brand-appropriate strategy that is consistent with Duke standards and policies.
• Serve as critical communications strategy advisor to the dean, including drafting of messages and communication from the dean when needed.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the school and administrative units –including admissions, faculty, development and alumni relations, and career services to align messages and to promote and communicate key initiatives of the school. Support the communication and develop common strategies for its successful implementation.
• Collaborate with the School’s affiliated centers and programs to strengthen, align and guide their communication strategies while maintaining the School’s overall brand and messaging. Ensure collaborative, cohesive, consistent and effective communications strategies across all centers and programs throughout the School, assuring a uniform execution of logos and other branding items both online and offline
• Take a research-based approach to identify key messages and audiences, and work consistently to tell School stories, weaving them together to create a consistent, unified message in support of the School and University brands to a broad range of targeted, diverse audiences.  As the lead curator of the School’s stories, engage pro-actively with faculty, administrators, staff, students, parents/families and alumni to recognize and promote the unique and compelling aspects of the school. Ensure effective distribution of research news across the university and beyond, including establishing working relationships with staff at high profile media outlets such as The Hill that cover of policy related research.
• Create and implement an editorial calendar for all relevant audiences, executing an intentional communications plan throughout the year.
• Coordinate dissemination of news stories and communications with Duke’s Office of University Communications, Duke in DC, multi- disciplinary areas, and other on-campus communications entities. Oversee creation/ submission of content (written, images, video, graphics, etc.) to university channels, including Duke Today and Duke Magazine.
• Lead in the creation of annual reports.
• Collaborate with the Associate Dean for Development and Alumni affairs in creating products for development communications purposes. Take leadership in helping Duke create a cohesive communications strategy on issues related to public policy that can enhance the reputation of both the school and the university in the policy world.
• Represent Sanford on university-wide communications/ marketing initiatives, issues management and crisis communications related to the school, its people and programs under the overall direction of the Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations. Participate in communicators network and on the PAGR Executive Council.

Marketing

• Serve as the primary marketing advisor to the Dean, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, center directors and university communication leaders on specific initiatives.  Define marketing and communications objectives that are aligned and in support of the School’s mission, strategic priorities, and business objectives; analyzes and interprets data, conditions, stakeholder positions and other variables to develop a framework for marketing; adjusts the strategy in response to or in anticipation of changing conditions.
• Create and maintain a marketing and media plan with key initiatives, events, and publications, highlighting opportunities and deadlines.
• Recognizing the Schools tuition driven financial model, work closely with the School’s admissions team members to continually improve and strengthen the School’s marketing and communications for the prospective student audience.  Work closely with the admission team members to support the development of a student recruitment and marketing strategy to increase the volume, quality and diversity of applications
• Collaborate with the School’s senior leadership team to create a marketing/public relations strategy that will enable the School’s leadership to cultivate and enhance meaningful relationships with targeted, high-level external audiences, including the media and key influencers.

Media Relations

• Working closely and in collaboration with University Communications, formulate and manage a comprehensive media relations strategy and program at the local, state, national and global levels encompassing print, television and social media outlets. Develop a working relationship with national press, and engage with key media outlets, both proactively and reactively. Seek media placement on an ongoing basis and provide media training to School leaders and faculty for print and television.
• Manage all media contacts and develop new relationships to enhance Sanford’s earned media impact.  Elevate the Sanford Brand and the Dean’s positioning, as a leading expert for comment on Public Policy Issues in the media.
• Work with the Dean to develop interview briefs in preparation for engagement, anticipating difficult questions and developing key talking points.
• Field and respond to media inquiries seeking Public Policy opinion and information; coordinate with staff to set up interviews.
• Provide media monitoring for the Sanford brand and admired peers with relevant content communicated to the School’s leadership, in real time.
• Anticipate and mitigate issues with the potential to negatively impact the School’s reputation and identify emerging issues to be addressed by the Dean.
• Develop, manage and maintain school’s websites to serve the information, marketing, recruitment and media relations goals of the school. Create and manage the school’s online, multimedia and social networking initiatives including Facebook, YouTube channel, and ITunesU.
• In consultation and coordination with University Communications, develop and maintain a crisis communication and reputation management plan to proactively address potential risks and establish communication guidelines for responding to reputation or crisis issues.

Human Resources/Finance

• Ensure strategic direction of the group is communicated and supported and that resources and team members are deployed optimally. Oversee and manage the communication team members/office.  Ensure that there is high-level monitoring and input regarding work flows, new project kick-offs and operating unit project management/results. Recommend various personnel actions, including, but not limited to hiring, performance assessment and appraisal, and taking corrective personnel actions.  Provide coaching and mentoring for growth and improved performance. Serve as a team leader and coach, develop and motivate peers and ensure professional development opportunities are available to support employee goals and interests.
• Direct responsibility for all related budgets, financial planning, and department expenditures. Work closely with team members and the Dean's Office to ensure return on investment reporting on key marketing initiatives.

Community

• Contribute to the life of the school by serving as appropriate on committees and participating in school-wide initiatives that require input from faculty, staff and students. Serve as liaison to other campus communications entities and Triangle organizations.

The above statements describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this classification.  This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties required of personnel so classified.

PREFERRED EDUCATION/TRAINING

Work requires communication, analytical and organizational skills generally acquired through completion of a master's degree in communications, business, marketing or a related field. Public Relations Agency experience a plus.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE

Prefer 10 years of progressive experience managing communications and/or marketing in a complex, dynamic environment, with a minimum of 6 years in the role of marketing/communications manager and administrator with responsibility for a wide range of process, project, policy, budgetary and supervisory responsibilities. Demonstrated experience in communications and marketing preferably with substantial experience in these roles in a higher education organization. Evidence of a highly collaborative style and experience developing and implementing communications strategies is required.

Must be an accomplished senior communications professional who promotes a culture of high performance and continuous improvement that values learning and a commitment to quality.

The desired candidate will have the following skills/qualifications:

• Exceptional oral and written communications skills, visual/graphic communication skills.
• Strong experience with social media applications (e.g., Sprout Social, Bit.ly, Canva) and platforms (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) as well as working knowledge of digital tools and services such as WordPress and Google Analytics.
• Extensive knowledge and use of social media in a dynamic and integrated marketing environment. 
• Ability to take knowledge and transform it into exciting and useful messages, and disseminate it to the right audiences through the best distribution channels.
• Reliable judgment, trusted discretion and strong interpersonal skills to relate to numerous and varied constituencies of the University and the community.
• Proven track record as a people manager that builds and enhances strong and diverse teams.
• Deep experience with, knowledge about and a passion for higher education.
• Self-starter, able to work independently and collaboratively.

Minimum Qualifications

Education

Work requires communication, analytical and organizational skills generally acquired through completion of a master's degree in communications, business, marketing, or a related field.

Experience

Work requires five years of experience as a marketing/communications manager and administrator with a wide range of process, project, policy, budgetary, and supervisory responsibilities. Demonstrated experience in communications and marketing in a higher education organization is preferred. Evidence of a highly collaborative style and experience developing and implementing communications strategies is required.

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.