"Communications Specialist"

Overview

Reporting to the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Communications, the Communications Specialist works collaboratively with Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Dean’s Office staff and leaders, faculty and staff of the 40+ departments and programs that comprise the FAS, and counterparts from across campus to create and coordinate communications, convey critical information to faculty and staff, and to support divisional projects.

The Communications Specialist is responsible for writing, editing, and distributing messages to FAS faculty and staff; and serves as the primary editor and author of the policy and process sections of the FAS website. They are responsible for updating and maintaining web content; assisting in the writing and production of publications, reports, and presentations; and collaborating with FAS Dean’s Office staff on other projects as needed. The Communications Specialist will develop training materials that communicate faculty appointment procedures to department staff and faculty. The Communications Specialist may also assist with editing, researching, writing, and producing news stories to highlight the impact of FAS teaching and scholarship and the achievements of FAS faculty.

1. Drafts policy memos, announcements, and messages from the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the FAS Dean’s Office to be sent to FAS faculty and staff. Supports short- and long-term communication planning; works with colleagues across the FAS and Yale to identify, evaluate, and measure the impact of the FAS’s communications strategies.
2. Envisions, creates and authors a wide variety of sensitive and high-level written materials, including letters, memos, policies, and other documents.
3. Develops and exercises a keen understanding of the multiple audiences and contributing University offices involved in a given project to ensure that individual communications are rolled out within a structure planned in advance and with appropriate communication among key stakeholders. Develops relationships and coordinates communications with other university offices (i.e.: Office of Public Affairs and Communications, Provost’s Office, President’s Office, Secretary’s Office, Yale College and Graduate School Deans’ offices, professional school dean’s offices, and others) as appropriate.
4. Updates, creates, and publishes policy- and news-related content for the FAS Dean’s Office website and updates site as needed. May assist with developing content strategy.
5. Creates, updates, and edits documentation and training materials that aid department staff and faculty members with faculty appointment processes.
6. Maintains Yale Message/Salesforce Marketing Cloud distribution lists and templates and prepares messages for distribution.
7. Prepares talking points and presentations for the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and other members of FAS leadership.
8. Supports the FAS Dean’s Office staff and leadership in proofreading, posting, and managing written content.
9. May serve as coordinator for a range of internal and external committees and managing correspondence.
10. May supervise the work of administrative staff and/or student workers.
11. May write and edit news and feature stories, web spotlights, media releases, web content, and a wide array of other content of interest to the FAS’s target audiences, including current faculty, prospective faculty, media, donors, alumni, and others.

Required Skills and Abilities

1. Superior written and oral communication skills; proven ability to articulate ideas in verbal and written communications to a variety of audiences and stakeholders.
2. Excellent interpersonal skills, with an ability to work with faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and donors. Flexibility, good judgement, and ability to maintain confidential information. Ability to handle challenging and complex situations and create thoughtful, informed, and institutionally aligned responses.
3. Self-started with strong work ethic, ability to meet deadlines. Ability to work both collaboratively and independently in an organized and productive manner.
4. Demonstrated experience updating website content using a content management system. Proficiency in using digital marketing software.
5. Detail oriented with experience in editing written documents and preparing correspondence. Demonstrated organizational skills and ability to develop and execute strategic projects.

Preferred Skills and Abilities

1. Familiarity with practices and trends in higher education and faculty appointments and promotions.
2. Experience updating Drupal-based websites.
3. Proficiency maintaining distribution lists and sending messages using Salesforce Marketing Cloud (YaleMessage).
4. Experience developing training materials and documents outlining policy and procedure.
5. Proficiency with project management tools (i.e. Airtable).

Principal Responsibilities

1. Brand & Communications Strategy. Develops and executes public relations strategy, output, and performance for the department with the goal of increasing media impressions in local, national, industry-specific and alumni media. Creates communications strategy to showcase top technologies available for license. Ensures consistent look and tone for all department communications, including written content, website and social media.
2. Media Relations. Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with media representatives. Identifies opportunities to work with other the departments, university publications and the Office of Public Affairs to develop and publicize stories.
3. Content Creation. Assesses the University faculty inventions and student startups for newsworthiness and create compelling news and public relations content. Creates engaging, dynamic content for the public, including press releases, blog articles, website updates, newsletter articles and social media.
4. Outreach. Manages delivery channels for newsworthy content, including updating and maintaining the department websites, social media accounts, and articles for email newsletters, and creating video, print, and on-campus events. Creates websites that embed existing content from Yale and external sites (publications related to the technology, videos featuring inventor, profile on Yale Bulletin and Calendar innovators webpage).
5. Other. Seeks out, negotiates with and recommends external organizations that can provide services that optimize both the cost and functionality of the new communications strategy. Ensures that all communications conform to the University guidelines. Hires student workers as needed to assist in producing copy. May perform other duties as assigned.

Required Education and Experience

Bachelor’s Degree in a related field and four years of experience in website design, production, marketing, project management or an equivalent combination of education and experience.