Assistant Dean of Communications – Brooks School of Public Policy, Communications & Marketing

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the Brooks School's comprehensive communications and marketing strategy, ensuring clear, consistent messaging that advances the school's mission, priorities, reputation, and visibility across internal and external audiences.
• Direct the school's communications portfolio, including digital and print content, publications, websites, social media, and media outreach. Partner with University Relations to promote faculty expertise, research, and key initiatives while maintaining brand alignment and messaging consistency.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to school leadership, supervise communications staff, manage departmental resources and budgets, and foster a collaborative, high-performing communications team that delivers measurable results.

Requirements

• Experience in and/or demonstrated commitment to supporting diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and wellbeing.
• Demonstrated skill in understanding of cultural differences.
• Bachelor’s degree with 7-10 years of experience, or equivalent education and experience, in communications, public affairs, marketing, public relations, media relations or journalism, with demonstrated experience as a communications leader serving multiple stakeholders.
• Exceptional leadership and vision to provide strategy development to advance the Brooks School of Public Policy’s mission. Experience creating and maintaining an annual strategic communications plan.
• Proven ability to effect successful marketing and media campaigns and crisis-management communications.
• An entrepreneurial and innovative attitude and orientation together with the ability to see opportunity and thrive in a time of uncertainty.
• Ability to write quickly, clearly, and concisely in collaboration with others.
• Experience generating, reporting, writing, editing and/or assigning stories, multimedia projects, and/or social media content that advances a unit’s mission and goals.
• Ability to work with partners in Brand, Media Relations, News, and Strategic Communications staff on internal and external branding and messaging, multimedia storytelling, and crisis prevention/management.
• Experience hiring and managing freelancers/vendors, managing small and large projects with multiple stakeholders, and ability to work with University Relations/Procurement partners to manage and maintain standard vendor contracts, costs, and timelines.

Preferred

• Experience in higher education, government, corporate or non-profit setting with a focus on policy-oriented public affairs, public relations, corporate communications, marketing or related fields.
• Experience in the direction and development of multimedia products including video, flash animation, digital signage, blogs, etc. as well as active participation in online social networks.

Benefits

• Cornell receives national recognition as an award-winning workplace for our health, wellbeing, sustainability, and diversity initiatives.
• Our benefits programs include comprehensive health care options, generous retirement contributions, access to wellness programs, and employee discounts with local and national retail brands. We invite you to follow this link to get more information about our benefits: Understand Your Benefits | Working at Cornell .
• Our leave provisions include health and personal leave, three weeks of vacation and 13 holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and an end of the year winter break from December 25-January 1. To offer greater flexibility for observing faiths and traditions we also offer two additional floating holidays.
• Cornell's impressive educational benefits include tuition-free Extramural Study and Employee Degree Program, tuition aid for external education, and Cornell Children's Tuition Assistance Program. Learn more about our extensive educational benefits: Education Benefits | Working at Cornell