Reporting to the UEI Senior Executive Director, this seasoned communications professional will develop and implement a high-impact communications strategy in support of the Urban Education Institute (UEI)’s mission. This role will assist the Faculty Director and Senior Executive Director with conceptualizing and communicating a compelling strategic vision that encapsulates UEI’s objectives and conveys the synergies among UEI’s five units, the Consortium on School Research, the Network for College Success, the To&Through Project, the University Teacher Education Program, and UChicago IMPACT.
The UEI Communications Lead is responsible for clearly and effectively presenting the key themes, findings, and impact of UEI’s work to external stakeholders across the full spectrum of communications channels and events. Working closely with the UEI leadership team and across all teams within the Institute, the UEI Communications Lead will craft stakeholder engagement events, media pitches, impact statements, newsletters, annual reports, and messaging to engage key audiences and translate the impact of UEI’s research and work with communities and practitioners to a broad set of stakeholders.
The UEI Communications Lead will collaborate with and support UEI researchers and practitioners as they engage with and present to local, state and national education leaders, community partners, schools, school districts, non-profits, media, and funders. The Communications Lead will maintain strong working relationships with UEI unit leadership and individual researchers to remain abreast of research initiatives and coordinate communications activities across all functions. The UEI Communications Lead will collaborate across UEI teams, some of whom have their own dedicated communications staff. Together with these content specialists, the Communication Lead will help to produce a variety of news stories, press releases, announcements, newsletters, and web content to promote education research and advance the communications and fundraising goals of UEI. The Communications Lead will also work closely with the Crown Family School Communications and Marketing team, to ensure cohesiveness and consistency in communications messaging and presentation. The Communications Lead will have a dotted line reporting relationship to the Associate Dean of Marketing and Communications and will align goals and objectives with the Crown’s School’s broader communications objectives.
The successful candidate must be able to perform a wide range of communications duties, including developing overall communications strategies across multiple channels, writing and editing content; drafting mass communications to external stakeholders; designing and planning events; managing projects for communications campaigns; maintaining email lists and distributing communications; writing and managing social media posts; and performing website updates. The ideal candidate will be a great collaborator and a proactive doer with communications experience in education research, policies and practices.
This job is grant funded. When the grant term expires, if funding continuance or additional funding isn’t identified, the position will end.