The Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs (WRI) at Rutgers-Camden has been a long-standing and trusted regional community partner for over 20 years. WRI honors former Senator Rand's dedication to Southern New Jersey and exists to produce and highlight community-focused research and evaluation leading to sound public policy and practice in the region. With that as a foundation, WRI convenes and engages stakeholders in making the connections across research, policy, and practice in support of Camden City and Southern New Jersey residents. Using social science research methods, WRI specializes in transforming data into actionable information across a variety of areas, including workforce development, education, transportation, and public/population health. WRI reinforces and amplifies Rutgers' research, teaching, and service goals by connecting the multidisciplinary expertise of faculty to regional problems, developing research and professional skills in students, and linking the resources of higher education to communities in Southern New Jersey. This is an exciting opportunity to join an influential organization with a mission of improving lives across the region and contributing significantly toward that mission. Under the direction of and in close collaboration with the WRI Director, the Senior Public Relations Specialist of Public Engagement and Communications (Public Engagement and Communications) will lead and execute strategic communications and public engagement activities that advance WRI's mission and position within the university, region, and State. Main responsibilities:
The Senior Public Relations Specialist (Public Engagement and Communications) will independently build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders across the region and State, including State and local government officials and agencies, community providers and organizations, members of the WRI Advisory Board, and Rutgers faculty and staff. This position will identify and create opportunities for WRI to share its research in a variety of settings with the aforementioned stakeholders and expand its reach to new audiences. They will liaise with the Rutgers-Camden Communications office, develop and execute strategic communications plans for all of WRI's public-facing research, and lead WRI's communications operations. * Leverage existing relationships and build new connections with South Jersey and State partners and legislators to build awareness of WRI's research in public settings
* Develop and execute communications and dissemination strategy for all WRI research projects and lead internal WRI Content and Dissemination working group * Develop and, in collaboration with WRI staff, execute public-facing content strategy for WRI: e.g. annual report, fact sheets, research briefs, research snapshots, blog posts, etc. * In collaboration with the WRI Department Administrator, plan and execute research-based meetings, convenings, conferences, and webinars - e.g. potential "State of South Jersey" conference; series of South Jersey forums connecting research to policy and community needs; events discussing community-focused research agendas, WRI Open House connecting faculty, WRI, and community partners * Manage WRI website, social media channels, WRImpact blog - develop and post content, develop and execute plan for increasing engagement and followers/subscribers * Faculty engagement: develop and execute engagement strategies to connect faculty and university to WRI's work and vice versa * WRI Advisory Board: leverage relationships and make connections that support WRI's public engagement goals * Liaise with university communications office to manage media relations and build awareness of WRI's work at the university level In this position, the Senior Public Relations Specialist is both leader and executor of all responsibilities and the workload will be manageable. With the exception of a potential part-time student communications associate (not guaranteed), it is not anticipated that there will be any direct reports for the position.
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