Assistant Vice President for Global Communications and Public Relations
The Assistant Vice President for Global Communications and Public Relations is a visionary leader responsible for communicating the heart of the mission of Arcadia University, a distinctively global, integrative, and personal learning experience. The AVP reports directly to the Vice President for Marketing and Communications and will drive an innovative and dynamic global communications strategy of purpose-led storytelling, public affairs, and engagement dialogue across platforms to advance the Arcadia brand.
The ideal candidate will be a motivated and energetic talent driven by strategic planning, storytelling, editing, and higher education leadership. They must be a hands-on administrator able to balance big disruptive ideas with proven traffic-driving strategies. As a change agent within the organization, this role will create a culture at Arcadia University that cultivates faculty, staff, students, administration, alumni, neighbors, and friends. This role focuses on working effectively across divisions to create a unified, results-oriented communications system dedicated to serving the University's interests, achieving external enrollment goals, engaging our community and alumni, and strengthening revenue streams.
Required Experience
- Experience developing messaging and communications strategies that embrace an inclusive approach to diversity across multiple regions, cultures, and generations.
- Ability to produce high-quality stories of scholarship, education, learning, and outcomes that capture an organization's essence and personality.
- A results-oriented approach to understanding an institution's strategic priorities and capturing stories advance Arcadia's enrollment, development, and brand position.
Responsibilities
- Develop and implement a unified storytelling strategy that demonstrates the University's unique brand vision and differentiates the institution to position Arcadia as a local anchor in the global communities we deliver educational experiences.
- Create a proactive and unified media relations and news strategy to increase Arcadia's brand awareness and differentiation, strengthen our reputation, grow revenue streams, and maximize the University's benefit to the regions in which we serve.
- Strengthen Arcadia's relationships in international, national, and local media outlets.
- Work closely with University departments and leadership to plan and facilitate an integrated communications program.
- Turn insights and information into clear and compelling stories that reframe challenges, and offer new opportunities, points of view, and strategic solutions.
- Oversee communications development across the MarCom teams dedicated to stakeholders, channels, research, content strategy, and creative identity.
- Serve as Editor of the biannual Arcadia Magazine, overseeing the editorial strategy, story development, design, media, digital, and print versions, and coordinate at the strategic and management levels with other University departments.
- Lead and manage central communications, including brand messaging, reputation management, news media, and publications.
- Manage messaging assets and work across a skilled content creation team to support the University's strategic messaging goals and to further its earned media strategies.
- Foster a data-informed approach to prioritize data analysis for decision-making to identify key messages and audiences; conduct market and brand research; evaluate campaigns for impact, effectiveness, and planning.
- Create a collegial work environment, motivating staff, and cultivating productive, collaborative relationships with faculty, staff, students, alumni, friends, and other constituencies.
- Advise the Vice President on national positioning opportunities and collaborate with other leaders and programs to plan and execute external outreach efforts and campaigns.
- Play a leadership role in the University's crisis communication and lead development and implementation of crisis and emergency communication policies and strategies
- Identify opportunities to enhance Arcadia's relationship with external media, relations, markets, and constituents.
- Monitor and evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery methods and procedures, and develop and implement a monitoring system to measure and assess the success of communications optimizing for effectiveness
- Support the institution's strategic plan, manage its reputation, and monitor and advise Arcadia's leadership on public issues most likely to affect its future
- Provide targeted assistance to three primary areas of Arcadia:
- Unifying the community to become collaborative in telling the University story
- Programs and initiatives related to inclusion, diversity, and equity
- Student recruitment, enrollment, retention, and success.