Assistant Dean For Communication & Outreach

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Department:

College of Arts & Sciences

Time Type:

Full time

Work Modality:

Hybrid 01 (On Campus 3-4 Days/Week)

Union:

Excluded

Job Description:

Summary:

The Assistant Dean for Communication & Outreach leads the communications, promotional and outreach efforts for the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and serves as a member of the College's administrative leadership team. The main roles are to enhance the visibility of the College, implement communication strategy, spearhead external outreach, oversee and help write and edit messages, and supervise communications staff. The Assistant Dean for Communication & Outreach oversees the College's web and social media presence, promotes college events, and creates and disseminates information and materials in support of the College's activities and goals. The incumbent works collaboratively with others in the College and across campus to build effective relationships and ensure compliance with campus-wide communication and promotional efforts.

Essential Functions:

• Communications, Promotional and Outreach Strategy, Vision, and Leadership: Create and implement a cohesive communications strategy for internal and external audiences. Strategic development and implementation of communications for the College, including the selection of core messaging, target audiences, and communication platforms. Oversees content creation that effectively imparts the mission and vision of the College. Provide communications support to the Dean, faculty, and other College representatives in creating opportunities to promote and highlight research, curricula, and newsworthy initiatives. Proactive planning and responsiveness in face of crises and other urgent events that affects the Dean, College, and stakeholders of the college. Some focused area of effort on marketing and recruitment communications for graduate programs.

• Team Supervision: Supervise the College's communications team. Create comprehensive planning for project development and implementation. Monitor staff performance on objectives. Establish priorities, conduct performance appraisals, and support opportunities for professional development.

• Communications trainings, resources and skill development: Provide the dean and college leadership with guidance and training on best practices in communication, online media presence, social media, and speech and presentation skills. Ensure that communications across the College departments and units are cohesive and align with the College voice and vision. Advise department chairs, center directors, faculty and staff on communication best practices.

• Liaison with Campus Units: Liaise with the University's communications and marketing, media relations, advancement, publications, and information technology offices to coordinate resources and ensure compliance with campus wide communication and promotional efforts. And, other duties as assigned

Supervisory Responsibility:

• This position reports directly to the Dean of CAS and serves as a member of the Dean's senior leadership team. Reporting to the Assistant Dean for Communication & Outreach are the following full-time positions: CAS Marketing and Communications Manager, Assistant Director of Communications, College Webmaster, and Communications Coordinator of AU Arts. This position is expected to work independently and collaboratively.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work:

• Full-time

• Exempt

Salary Range:

• $120,000 - $136,000 annually, to commensurate with experience.

Required Education and Experience:

• Master's degree in journalism, communications, public relations or equivalent combination of education and professional experiences, preferably in higher education.

• Minimum of seven (7) years of experience as a management professional in the areas of journalism, communications, marketing, advertising, public relations, or related area, with proven ability to write succinctly and journalistically and develop and execute strategic communications.

• Demonstrated leadership competency and ability to work effectively with senior leadership teams. Project management leadership abilities and successful supervisory and staff development experience.

• Skilled in managing sensitive and urgent issues.

• Superior writing, editing and verbal communication skills.

• Attention to detail and the capacity to handle multiple tasks concurrently.

• Highly evolved teamwork skills with demonstrated ability to develop productive working relationships with multiple constituencies.

Preferred Education and Experience:

• Experience in higher education.

• Expertise in digital marketing.

• Experience with CRMs, such as Salesforce, Hubspot, and Recruit.

• Knowledgeable about content management system (CMS), business intelligence applications (BI), and publishing and design standards.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications:

The successful candidate must be able to represent the College to key internal and external constituencies with a high degree of professionalism. The incumbent needs to stay abreast of best practices and evolving technology in areas of communication and marketing to keep the College at the leading edge of trends.

Benefits

AU offers a competitive benefits package including a 200% matching retirement plan, tuition benefits for full-time staff and their families, several leadership development certificates, and has been recognized by the American Heart Association as a fit-friendly worksite. Click here to learn about American University's unique benefit options.

Other Details

• Hiring offers for this position are contingent on successful completion of a background check.

• Employees in staff positions at American University must deliver their services to the university from either the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia, or perform work on-site at the university.

• Please note this job announcement is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

• American University is an E-Verify employer.

Current American University Employees

American University current employees must apply through their employee Workday account. If you are a current employee at American University, please log into Workday and select the Find Jobs report which will take you to our internal career listings.

Contact Us

For more information or assistance with the American University careers site, email theworkline@american.edu.

American University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution that operates in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The university does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, personal appearance, gender identity and expression, family responsibilities, political affiliation, source of income, veteran status, an individual's genetic information or any other bases under federal or local laws (collectively "Protected Bases") in its programs and activities.