Vice President for Marketing & Communications in Worcester, Massachusetts at Clark University

Clark University

Location: Worcester, MA Category: Staff and Administrators Job Type: Full-time - Exempt Posted On: Thu Sep 3 2026 Job Description:

The Vice President for Marketing and Communications will be an essential strategic partner to

President David Fithian and the senior leadership team at a time when Clark's needs around

strategic communication, institutional positioning, enrollment, advancement, reputation, and

internal alignment are more important than ever. Higher education is navigating profound

demographic, financial, technological, and cultural change. Clark's ability to thrive will depend not

only on the quality of its academic programs and student experience, but also on its capacity to

explain who it is, why it matters, and where it is going with greater force, consistency, and

imagination.

This leader will help Clark tell a more compelling and integrated story about its distinctiveness: a

small research university with a strong liberal arts core, deep roots in Worcester, a tradition of

challenging convention, and growing strength in areas of urgent relevance, including climate and

society, design and technology, health and human development, civic and global engagement,

management, the sciences, the arts, and the humanities.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide vision, leadership and direction for marketing and communications strategies and programs that align with and advance the University's transformational strategic plan.
• Serve as the President's senior-most executive for marketing and communications, with responsibility for oversight and direction of those functions and staff.
• Lead a University-wide effort to sharpen, integrate, and consistently express Clark's strategy and institutional narrative across audiences, including prospective students and families, current students, faculty and staff, alumni, donors, trustees, partners, media, and the broader public.
• Partner closely with leadership in enrollment, advancement, and community affairs to develop innovative and effective strategies for recruitment, engagement and fundraising-related communications.
• Partner closely with leadership in academic affairs, human resources, and student affairs to develop thoughtful and impactful strategies for internal communications, retention and community.
• Convene leaders, partners, and stakeholders across the University around shared priorities, building the relationships, alignment, and collaboration needed to advance the University's mission and strategic goals.
• Collaborate closely with the President, senior leadership, deans, faculty, staff, students, trustees, and external partners to sharpen and strengthen Clark's institutional story, elevate its brand, and ensure that communications across the University are strategic, coherent, authentic, and audience-aware.
• Anticipate, mitigate and manage the types of complex, challenging, sensitive and potentially negative situations and issues that can rapidly arise on any campus and risk the University's reputation or the confidence of the campus community.
• Set the tone and lead the marketing and communications team in expanding and strengthening strong, productive collaborations with faculty, students and staff colleagues across the University.
• Provide leadership, expertise and guidance to direct and continue building the skills and impact of a growing marketing and communications team and their potential to shape the standing and engagement goals of the University. This includes setting clear benchmarks for high performance, leading by example, having insight into best-in-practice work across the full set of media tools used today and charting a path to comprehensive and potent digital outreach.
• Serve as University spokesperson with skill and assurance as needed in any type of situation.
• Build rapport and trust with a campus-wide network of administrative and academic colleagues to inform, shape and guide fidelity of messaging and high-quality public outreach that benefit the University's reputation and strategic goals.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree. Advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible marketing and communications leadership experience.
• Demonstrated ability to work as a genuinely collaborative institutional leader, not only as a functional expert, with the credibility, humility, curiosity, and judgment to partner effectively with faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni, donors, enrollment leaders, advancement colleagues, academic deans, and senior administrators.
• Sophisticated understanding of the challenges facing higher education, including demographic change, public skepticism, affordability concerns, changing student expectations, reputational risk, enrollment competition, and the need for universities to communicate their value with greater clarity and credibility.
• Proven performance reflecting the highest standards of ethics, trustworthiness, judgment under pressure, creative problem-solving and skill and care with communications of every kind.
• Demonstrated senior leadership experience designing and executing creative, impactful strategic communications plans and marketing efforts in an organization with varied priorities and a wide range of stakeholders.
• Proven experience earning the trust and confidence of a diverse set of professional peers and leaders.
• Demonstrated performance as a highly driven learner curious for new knowledge and skills promising to benefit professional impact and leadership contributions.
• Demonstrated skill managing, motivating and supporting staff of varied levels and talents and leading them toward increasingly stronger performance.
• Proven ability to forge effective relationships, exert influence with tact and good judgment and collaborate internally and externally with diverse colleagues at all levels.
• Deep understanding of digital communications and marketing strategies and new media and extensive experience applying or leading their application successfully.
• Outstanding management and planning skills, including the ability to simultaneously handle the pressures of crises and the regular demands of many intersecting projects with poise and good humor.
• Proven stellar and nuanced interpersonal and professional communications skills, including in writing and public speaking.
• Exceptional capacity to bring people together around a shared story while respecting the complexity, individuality, and intellectual independence of an academic community.

Additional Information:

Expected Hiring Range: $264,800 to $314,000

Pay Transparency Disclosure:
The compensation for this position will be determined based on factors that include available budget, internal equity, and the selected candidate's qualifications, experience, education, and other job-related credentials. This range represents Clark University's good-faith estimate of the expected hiring range at the time of posting consistent with Clark's compensation philosophy and internal alignment.

At Clark University we believe that diversity of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to a more innovative and productive work environment. We welcome and encourage individuals of all backgrounds to join our team and contribute their unique ideas to help us achieve our goals.

Clark University offers a generous benefit package for full and, if applicable, part-time employees that include; paid time off, generous retirement plan, group health and dental insurance, life insurance, and tuition, along with use of many campus amenities. For a complete list of benefits for eligible employees visit here.

To review the Clark University Police Department Annual Security and Fire Safety Report visit here.