Assistant Director of Communications and Media Relations

Job Title

Assistant Director of Communications and Media Relations

Agency

East Texas A&M University

Department

Marketing Communications

Proposed Minimum Salary

Commensurate

Job Location

Commerce, Texas

Job Type

Staff

Job Description

The Assistant Director of Communications and Media Relations leads the planning, management and day‑to‑day operations of East Texas A&M University’s communications function in support of institutional strategy and priorities established by the Chief Marketing Officer.

The position develops communications plans, establishes project workflows, manages staff and resources, works directly with university stakeholders, and leads the editorial planning and institutional storytelling approach across communications functions. The Assistant Director is responsible for moving the communications unit toward established strategic objectives through coordinated planning, execution, measurement, reporting and continuous improvement.

The position oversees media relations, university news and owned media, internal communications, e-communications, crisis and issues communications, and the professional staff responsible for those functions. The Assistant Director also collaborates closely with other Marketing and Communications teams to ensure communications efforts are coordinated across channels and contribute to broader university priorities.

• Leads the planning, management and day‑to‑day operations of the university communications function.
• Translates institutional priorities and communications strategy established by the Chief Marketing Officer into actionable plans, work streams, assignments and timelines.
• Develops and maintains communications plans, editorial calendars, project workflows, standards and processes that support efficient and coordinated execution.
• Works directly with university leaders, colleges, divisions and other campus stakeholders to understand communications needs, clarify objectives, establish priorities and determine appropriate communications support.
• Leads the university’s editorial planning and institutional storytelling arc across communications functions, ensuring planned editorial, responsive news and communications activities reinforce institutional priorities.
• Assigns work, manages team capacity and staffing, establishes priorities and ensures projects move efficiently from planning through execution.
• Monitors progress, results and resource needs and provides regular reporting and recommendations to the Chief Marketing Officer.
• Uses communications performance, audience insights, stakeholder feedback and operational data to improve plans, workflows and allocation of resources.
• Leads through empowerment, support and shared achievement by providing staff with clear objectives, appropriate authority, context and resources to succeed.

• Supervises the university’s media relations function and the Senior Media Relations Specialist.
• Provides direction and priorities for proactive earned‑media efforts, media pitching, faculty‑expert placement, external media relationships and response to media inquiries.
• Ensures media relations efforts support university priorities, institutional reputation and broader editorial and storytelling objectives.

• Leads the university’s editorial plan and storytelling strategy across university news and other owned communications channels.
• Oversees planned editorial content, responsive and opportunity‑driven news, institutional announcements, feature storytelling and other centrally produced university content.
• Establishes editorial priorities and ensures stories are developed and distributed through the channels and formats most…