Director of Communication

North Central College (www.northcentralcollege.edu) is a renowned liberal arts college nestled in the Historic District of Naperville, a friendly suburb about 30 minutes outside Chicago.

The College seeks a director of communication to join the Office of Marketing and Communications (OMC) who will—in collaboration with the vice president for institutional advancement, assistant vice president for external affairs and other directors within OMC—develop and execute a communications plan that raises the College’s awareness among target audiences including prospective students and parents, alumni and friends, community members, peer institutions and others. The director of communication will be responsible for media and public relations while overseeing social media and contributing to web and College magazine content, all with a keen eye toward extending the College’s brand and communicating stories that support and bolster North Central’s reputation. The individual in this role will assist the College in adapting to and developing strategies for a new and ever-changing communication world. The director of communication will be an important member of the College’s Crisis Task Force and will provide significant crisis communication leadership. The individual in this role will develop and implement communications processes that effectively support and achieve the vision, mission, goals and objectives of North Central College beginning with student enrollment and retention and the institution’s Brilliant Future fund raising campaign and continuing with activities that achieve greater awareness of the College’s brand and reputation. S/He will establish a media-monitoring dashboard to regularly measure the effectiveness of the College’s communication placements. The director of communication will build and maintain effective relationships with members of the media as well as the College’s faculty, staff, students and alumni, and community constituents.

1. Collaboratively develop and execute a communications plan that raises awareness of the College among target audiences including prospective students and parents, alumni and friends, community members, peer institutions, media representatives and others, all with a keen eye toward extending the College’s brand and communicating stories that support and bolster North Central’s reputation. Establish a dashboard and analytics for measuring the effectiveness of communication outreach. 2. Identify and write compelling stories that resonate with targeted audiences and project North Central College’s mission and strategic priorities in timely and relevant ways. Doing so requires an ability to identify the best communication channels for distributing stories, the ability to efficiently research story details and the ability to creatively and effectively write stories that speak to respective market segments. 3. Regularly and effectively pitch stories to local, regional and national media (print and online) and seek opportunities for strategic op-ed placements by members of the campus community. Story placements are critical to the success of the College’s communication plan. 4. Supervise, manage and direct a group of communication professionals and graduate assistants to fulfill the marketing and communications goals and objectives in an efficient and effective fashion. 5. Within OMC’s collaborative editorial process, generate ideas and write stories for College publications including the alumni magazine (print and online), Central Time, the website and other marketing materials that project the College’s mission. Ensure the alignment and integration of college branding in all communications processes. Strategically manage and integrate the College’s official social media channels with all other College messaging. 6. Cultivate and maintain relationships with media. In collaboration with the assistant vice president for external affairs, the vice president for institutional advancement, the president and other senior leaders, maintain the College’s relationship with media outlets, strategically manage media inquiries, distribute pertinent information to media outlets, arrange media interviews and serve as a College spokesperson in certain media situations. Develop and maintain an expertise directory for use in promoting faculty as expert sources to media. 7. Serve as an important member of the College’s Crisis Task Force (CTF). Establish, assess and refine crisis communication protocols within the Office of Marketing and Communications. Participate in regular institutional tabletop and other training exercises. Maintain connections with important first responder organizations and participate in joint community gatherings focused on crisis response. Conduct regular crisis communication practice exercises within OMC to ensure response preparedness. Support CTF leadership by preparing regular campus communication (faculty, staff and students) regarding crisis response protocols. 8. Coordinate and direct news and photographic coverage of campus events involving students, parents, faculty, staff, trustees and alumni. 9. Develop and maintain a communication sequence to keep the College’s neighbors informed of regular and special events occurring on North Central’s campus. 10. Maximize the use of technology to increase communication among constituents. Maintain information resources regarding community organizations and College neighbors. 11. Maintain current and continuing knowledge of external/internal issues and trends and all College services, programs, personnel, departments, events, policies and procedures. 12. Provide editorial support and copywriting for internal and external college publications. On a relatively small staff, writing skills are essential to the success of this position. 13. Represent North Central at internal and external functions as assigned. 14. Participate in professional development activities, which further the goals and objectives of the College. 15. Perform other related duties, including research projects, as appropriately assigned.

1. Strong leadership and organizational skills and the ability to assimilate and analyze information from a variety of sources. 2. Mature news judgment and excellent writing, organizational, interpersonal and communications skills. In particular, the ability to apply professional-quality journalism skills in the production of concise and highly readable copy presented in creative and attractive formats. 3. Extensive knowledge and experience overseeing effective public relations and communications programs that includes media and community relations, advertising, marketing and publications and editorial content. A process-minded approach to establishing efficiency in a fast-paced environment. 4. A proven track record with media representatives. 5. A proven track record of branding and reputation-building communication success. 6. Ability to maintain the confidentiality of privileged information. 7. Knowledge of and ability to use computer-based systems including word-processing, spreadsheets, statistical packages, power point and advanced layout software. 8. Ability to manage multiple priorities, work to deadline and collaborate with others. This requires an individual who is well organized, detail-oriented, flexible and self-directed with good stress management skills and a keen understanding of priorities. 9. An ability to think creatively and strategically, particularly in times of crisis, and an ability to work independently as an effective member of the OMC team. 10. Ability to mentor staff and students. 11. Ability to continuously demonstrate outstanding interpersonal skills in dealing with persons internal and external to the College. 12. Knowledge of and ability to articulate College organization, operation, philosophy and vision for the future. Education/Training * Bachelor’s degree in journalism, marketing, advertising, public relations, communications or other related field. Experience: * A minimum of seven to ten years of responsible experience in communications (journalism, public relations, etc.) or equivalent experience is preferred. License: * A valid driver’s license is required.