Public Affairs/Communications Specialist I

Public Affairs/Communications Specialist I

Req No: 2022-14785
Category: Research/Project
Type: Part-Time Contract
Salary: $17.50 - $21.50/hr
Close Date:

Overview
The San Diego State University Pre-College Institute is a change-ready strategic-thinking/planning organization that promotes college access and completion for underserved students through excellence and innovation in education. Under the Executive Director, Dr. Cynthia Park, PCI provides an invaluable service to our communities' multicultural, socio-economically diverse, low-income, underrepresented, and underserved students.

Our goal at PCI is to extend an invitation to life to our students and to support them as they make their way through the K-career pathways. Using multiple grants and sources of funding, PCI has implemented a variety of ongoing programs and initiatives to achieve that mission. PCI continues to support SDSU in building on the foundation of community engagement, high-impact practices, and cultivating compassionate leaders.

PCI is the umbrella organization that houses the Pathways Office for Careers in STEM Education, Educational Talent Search, Talent Search Mentoring, Upward Bound Classic and STAR, and Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP). These are educational opportunity programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education --Office of Higer Education and Federal Work-Study, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), contracts with local educational schools districts, and private donors to assist eligible middle and high school students to pursue and complete postsecondary programs of education. PCI comprises of 27 staff members (this includes all management and support personnel) in the organization.

Under the general direction of the PCI Service Learning Director and Executive Director, and in collaboration wih the PCI programs' media liaisons, the Media Specialist supports the entire PCI team by sustaining PCI brand consistency through written, visual, social media, website, and any other means. Develop public relations, media relations, publicity, and membership development for PCI, Pathways, Talent Search, Upward Bound, HCOP, F-SMP, and donor-funded projects. Incumbent develops and maintains a framework for the organization's public information policy under the direction of the Executive Director.

The Incumbent is involved directly in developing, writing and/or editing a variety of print or electronically-based communication materials, as well as coordinating related public affairs, media, community relations, and marketing activities. The incumbent is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with relevant internal and external constituents to ensure that the public receives relevant, timely, and positive information about the university and its programs. Additionally, the incumbent may be assigned specific responsibilities relative to the ongoing management of communication materials on the campus website.


Responsibilities
Communications Development (20%):

• Collaborate across teams, project staff, faculty, and community on the theme, design and content of PCI websites and analytics
• Develop guidelines for communication, media, social media, and marketing for PCI staff to promote collaboration and consistent public information
• Write, edit, and proofread copy to produce standard print or electronically based communications for targeted internal and external audiences.
• Document review and assessment to sustain PCI brand consistency.
• Create flyers, social media graphics, graphics, documents, visuals, presentations, videos, and other means to communicate with our target audiences across the platforms that they are using ( language translation as appropriate).
• Work cooperatively with staff and faculty to create smooth communication and cooperation between program stakeholders(school district staff, community partners, SDSU Leadership).
• Update and organize PCI media calendar, oversee PCI programs’ calendars and communicate PCI-wide campaigns, delegating tasks as needed.

Website (15%):

• Maintain PCI Website per SDSU guidelines (overall organization of pages, profiles, events, and resources)
• Collaborate with all projects and initiatives to ensure accurate, relevant, timely information is available to our audience
• Present to the management Team a review of analytics to make strategic decisions
• Monitor, approve and delegate website requests to ensure website data is accurate, relevant and up-to-date
• Supervise re-branding approaches and initiatives from various programs at the PCI
• Schedule meetings and trainings with SDSU Information Technology or Website support staff

Media Relations (10%):

• Promote and public activities and programs on social media (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter).
• Collaborate with SDSU Strategic Communications to showcase PCI activities, events, accomplishments, and highlights.
• Serve as key point of contact for PCI media relations.
• Keep up-to-date with emerging sensitive topics in the educational field and public affairs.
• Provide guidance to media representatives as to how to engage with negative press

Programmatic Marketing (20%):

• Develop strategies to promote the image of the Pre-College Institute and projects using market research data to determine the most effective techniques and approaches for reaching target audiences
• Identify the interests of various constituent groups.
• Translate the results of research into clear plans to reach target audiences with the collaboration of the management team.
• Utilize marketing platforms available to promote PCI and invite participation.

Program Development & Promotion (20%):

• Contribute, in collaboration with program staff, to the development of program activities such as a Teambuilding Retreat, Community Service Projects, Tutor Recognition, Senior Recognition, STEM Exploration Day, Career Exploration Day, PCI Staff Appreciation.
• Decide collaboratively with project staff on benchmarks for media campaigns.
• Attend and actively participate in All-PCI staff meetings, planning meetings and cross-team collaborations.
• Develop and maintain community linkages including attendance at appropriate community meetings, and regular communications with parents and teachers of targeted students.

Assessment (10%)

• Schedule review of analytics for social media, website, and marketing campaigns.
• Collaborate with PCI Evaluation Research Specialist on the interpretation and use of analytics as part of the overall evaluation of PCI programs.
• Determine if media campaigns met established benchmarks.
• Reflect on how PCI media goals and objectives are being met.
• prioritize weekly tasks based on urgency, importance, source of the request, and feasibility.
• Participate in ongoing improvement of communications, media, website, data collection, and community outreach.

Other Duties As Assigned (5%)


Qualifications
Minimum Education & Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in related field
  
• Two-years of related professional or technical experience
  

Preferred Qualifications & Skills:

• Three years of progressively responsible experience working in a K-12 or post-secondary setting.
• Ability to independently carry out a variety of professional complex assignments without detailed instructions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with a solid foundation in grammar, spelling, and the composition of various communication vehicles are essential to quickly produce clear and concise standard documents for internal and external publication. Establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with a variety of individuals and groups on- and off-campus.
• Proficiency in basic web communication techniques, vehicles and formats.
• Experience in goal setting, time management, and backward planning.
• Ability to appropriately handle sensitive and confidential information.
• Strong interpersonal skills to develop and maintain relationships within the university and community and with the media.
• Foundational knowledge of general practices, methods and procedures related to public affairs, media relations, marketing, and graphic design.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with a solid foundation in grammar, spelling, and the composition of various communication vehicles in Spanish preferred.
• Ability to keep abreast of public policy and public affairs issues.
• Working knowledge of protocols and institutional etiquette related to public and media relations.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the practices, procedures, and activities of the attributes of the diverse populations enrolled at SDSU, explicit understanding of the unique contributions of SDSU
• PCI in the community, and familiarity with the demographics of our region.
  Prior experience with TRIO or similar outreach programs is preferred.
  

ADDITIONAL APPLICANT INFORMATION:

• The COVID-19 vaccine is required by the CSU for all SDSU Research Foundation employees as a condition of employment. Should you be offered a position, you will be required to provide proof of vaccination status. Individuals who obtain an approved medical or religious exemption on file will be required to complete regular COVID-19 testing
• A background check (including a criminal records check) must be completed satisfactorily before any candidate can be offered a position with SDSU Research Foundation
• San Diego State University Research Foundation is an EEO/AA/Disability/Vets Employer

To apply, visit https://careers-sdsurf.icims.com/jobs/14785/public-affairs-communications-specialist-i/job?in_iframe=1




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