Director of Communications & Events

About UMass Amherst

The flagship of the Commonwealth, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is a nationally ranked public land‑grant research university that seeks to expand educational access, fuel innovation and creativity, and share and use its knowledge for the common good. Founded in 1863, UMass Amherst sits on nearly 1,450 acres in scenic Western Massachusetts and boasts state‑of‑the‑art facilities for teaching, research, scholarship, and creative activity.

The institution advances a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community where everyone feels connected and valued—and thrives, and offers a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees across 10 schools and colleges, and 100 undergraduate majors. We believe every member of our university community can contribute to our ongoing success by striving for the highest level of excellence as we seek breakthrough solutions to mounting environmental, social, economic, and technological challenges in our world.

Job Summary

The Director of Communications and Events provides leadership and oversight for the communications, marketing, and national visibility efforts of the Graduate School. The Director initiates School and campus committees, projects, and activities in service of the School’s mission and goals. The Director manages key events and develops materials that promote the activities, initiatives, and accomplishments of the School to constituents such as alumni, current students, and prospective students.

The Director is a significant contributor to the Dean’s senior staff, serves as a representative of the Dean, and is the spokesperson for media outlets.

Essential Functions

• Creates and oversees School branding.
• Develops and produces multi‑media marketing and communications materials (including print publications, email, website and social media) for distribution to constituents.
• Writes feature stories, news items, press releases, etc.
• Develops, writes, designs, edits, and produces documents, posters, pamphlets, special event publications, and other material.
• Supports and oversees the coordination of written communication efforts in School units.
• Prepares annual budget recommendations for communications materials and website and participates in budget determination.
• Develops printed and digital recruitment materials and other collateral.
• Creates multimedia assets, including videos and photos.
• Supervises a team of student communications assistants.
• Evaluates and procures off‑campus vendors and services.

Provides Vision/Guidance for Use of Resources and Technology to Meet the School's Communications Needs

• Responsible for the School website, including construction of new pages and creation of content. Ensures overall visual and navigational consistency throughout website.
• Oversees content and distribution of weekly e‑newsletter for students.
• Manages the School’s customer relations management system account.
• Partners with the school’s IT unit to meet communications objectives.
• Creates and maintains dynamic and Search Engine Optimized webpages, including news, student profiles, blogs, and multi‑media sections.
• Creates and oversees social media.

Provides Leadership to Various School and Campus‑Wide Communications Initiatives to Produce Communications Pieces

• Provides strategic planning and project management expertise to units, the School, and campus‑wide committees and projects.
• Takes a leadership role in website redesign.
• Provides strategic direction to units for their communications goals, including website content.
• Consults with other units about website creation and development.
• Liaises with University Relations colleagues around campus‑wide communications.
• Partners with and represents the Graduate School on campus‑wide committees and/or partnerships with other campus units.

Develops Collateral for School Events

• Responsible for communications and collateral for School events and activities.
• Creates communications and collateral for annual recruitment and new student events.
• Creates talking points, PowerPoint slides, and other materials for the Dean and other school leaders as needed.
• Participates in all aspects of event planning including…