Writer - The Office of Communications & Marketing

The Office of Communications and Marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, seeks applications and nominations for the position of writer. The writer works as a member of the News & Information team to support and enhance integrated marketing efforts and continually highlight the overall mission of the university. The writer is a strategic communicator and planner who regularly produces written content for news articles and some content for feature articles, while collaborating with key partners across campus.

UT is the state's flagship research university, a campus of choice for outstanding undergraduates, and a premier graduate institution. As a land-grant university, the institution fulfills its access mission through a commitment to excellence in learning, scholarship, and engagement.

The Office of Communications and Marketing is dedicated to advancing the university's reputation. Staff members support the institution's mission and goals, promote its successes and achievements, inform and engage its stakeholders, and ensure the integrity of its brand. We craft audience-focused communications based on data, best-practices, and emerging trends.

The division comprises several cross-functional teams, employing more than 50 full-time professionals with expertise in design, development, video production, content strategy, feature writing, editing, marketing, media relations, internal communication, and special events.

We seek candidates who can contribute in meaningful ways to the diversity and intercultural goals of the university.

Duties/Responsibilities

* Participates in brainstorming sessions and proactively researches and pitches ideas for news articles that support the university's strategic news efforts.

* Maintains and builds professional working relationships with key university partners to discover and elevate the reputation building work being done at the college and department level across the university.

* Conducts interviews with faculty, staff, students, and others.

* Distills complex ideas into clear, written language that is accessible to a variety of audiences.

* Researches, develops, and writes concise news stories for news website, and press releases for members of the news media, which create awareness among local, state, and national stakeholders about the university's value, academic quality, and benefits to the state of Tennessee.

* Researches, develops, and writes up to six multi-dimensional feature stories per year for targeted audiences, collaborating with the editorial content manager to execute feature content tactics.

* Follows established processes and workflows including loading content into software systems used for project management (Asana) and standard article review and approval (Gather Content).

* Provides support for news related events on campus, targeted media list building, and evaluation and reporting efforts of the News and Information team.

* Serves as a representative of the Office of Communications and Marketing in meetings and committees across campus.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

* Working knowledge of communicating with a variety of audiences

* Working knowledge of traditional and emerging media

* Good writing skills

* Ability to work on multiple writing projects.

* Ability to meet deadlines.

* Ability to provide and receive constructive criticism.

* Ability to work independently and in a group setting.