Director of Public Relations and Marketing

Responsible for developing and implementing comprehensive public relations and marketing strategies, strengthening media relationships, and promoting the College’s mission and achievements to foster trust and engagement with key stakeholders.

DESCRIPTION OF ESSENTIAL DUTIES:  

• Partners with the Associate VP to provide leadership for the development and implementation of a comprehensive plan to coordinate district-wide public relations, marketing, and promotional efforts aligned with the College strategic plan.
• Builds and maintains relationships with local, regional, and national media outlets to enhance positive coverage of the College.
• Develops and executes strategic marketing and public relations campaigns to promote programs, faculty expertise, student success, and institutional initiatives.
• Responsible for developing initiatives and programs with internal and external groups to grow enrollment district-wide.
• Develops, manages, and monitors a cost-effective departmental budget.
• Supervises and leads the creation of public relations materials, including news releases, op-eds, newsletters, and community outreach communication for key College personnel, including the President and members of administration and faculty.
• Provides consultation and training for College personnel on media relations and interview preparation.
• Responsible for creative direction, copywriting, and production of promotional/advertising and public relations material placed in traditional and non-traditional media channels including video, print, digital and audio.
• Supervises and leads district-wide social media marketing and communication strategy including content development to coordinate messaging that supports enrollment and retention goals and enhances the brand image of the College. 
• Responsible for analyzing market research and data to determine marketing strategies to enhance the College brand, drive efficient use of resources, support achievement of recruitment goals and deliver institutional results.
• Overall responsibility for activities that create a positive image of the College internally and externally. Includes writing speeches for the President, public relations documents, letters, scripts, and other materials as needed.
• Serves as the College Freedom of Information Officer for all Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, working closely with college departments and outside legal counsel to comply with all aspects of the Act. Maintains State of Illinois FOIA certification through the Attorney General’s office.

DESCRIPTION OF OTHER DUTIES:

• Overall responsibility to organize and conduct news conferences/events and distribute news releases to area media regarding the College.
• Participates in on-campus events and serves as a representative of the College at meetings, community events, and other public functions.
• Creates and administers a credit and/or non-credit hour student internship program for students to obtain marketing & public relations experience.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Education & Experience:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

1. Bachelor’s degree required in Public Relations, Marketing, Communications or related field (Master’s degree preferred.)
2. Minimum of three years’ work experience required in public relations, media relations, or strategic communications, preferably in higher education.
3. Training and experience specifically related to supervision, budget management and strategic resource allocation and planning processes preferred. 
4. Experience working with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint required. Effective interpersonal relations, and written and verbal communication skills.
5. Experience working and negotiating with third parties such as media vendors, news reporters, or market research firms.
6. Understanding of the comprehensive community college and its target markets for enrollment.

The above statements reflect the general details necessary to describe the principle functions of the described job; it is not an all-encompassing statement of all the work requirements that may be necessary to perform the job.