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Communications Officer, NEET

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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The Context:

The School of Engineering at MIT launched the New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET) initiative in Fall 2017 with the aim to rethink and reimagine undergraduate engineering education – what students learn and how students learn – in a fundamental way across the school. NEET supports MIT’s undergraduate students in an interdisciplinary project-centric curriculum that spans departments. It currently offers four programs or threads --- Autonomous Machines, Climate & Sustainability Systems, Digital Cities, and Living Machines. This year there are 248 sophomores, juniors, and seniors in NEET, making it the fourth largest undergraduate academic cohort. They come from 11 departments and are pursuing 21 majors in all 5 schools. 59% are women and 35% come from underrepresented groups. Students earn a degree in their chosen major and are simultaneously awarded a NEET Certificate in their chosen cross-departmental thread, in the usual four years. MIT students typically join as sophomores for the three-year NEET opt-in/opt-out program;  this requires promotion to first-years (rising sophomores) to recruit them for NEET’s four threads.


 

Focus of the Position

This position focuses on creating a distinct identity for NEET, one that reflects its personality and the promise it makes to students and other stakeholders. This would involve developing, managing, and executing NEET’s overall communications, media, and outreach strategy, including student outreach and community building, working with NEET leadership, faculty, instructors, NEET scholars (students) and other stakeholders to do so.


 

Position Overview:

Develop, manage, and execute NEET’s overall communications, media, and outreach strategy, including student outreach and community building, working with NEET leadership, faculty, instructors, NEET scholars (students) and other stakeholders to do so. Market and promote the NEET program and its threads to prospective students, external and internal constituents, industry, donors and potential donors, the general public, faculty, alumni, and the greater MIT community through targeted outreach, media relations, news articles, social media, digital channels, video, and print communications, Develop, implement, and manage the annual recruitment of first-years (rising sophomores) for the four opt-in/opt-out NEET threads. Interact closely with the NEET student community, designing and hosting events, and proactively reaching out to identify, conceptualize, write, and/or edit a wide variety of student-related and other content for multiple channels and projects. Manage and create website and social media content and use analytics to measure efficacy. Conceptualize, create, write, and/or edit a variety of content for multiple channels/projects; and serve as the media relations contact, including crafting announcements, facilitating MIT News coverage, and working with other Communication Officers in the School of Engineering and MIT at large. Work with NEET leadership and School of Engineering Development Team to develop communications materials for fundraising. 


 

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

  • Create and implement a comprehensive, multi-channel communications strategy targeting NEET’s many audiences.
  • Creating a distinct identity for NEET, one that reflects its personality and the promise it makes to students and other stakeholders.
  • Develop, manage, and executing NEET’s overall communications, traditional media, social media, and outreach strategy, including student outreach and community building, and learn about program needs for promotional communications to develop compelling content, working with NEET leadership, faculty, instructors, NEET scholars (students) and other stakeholders to do so.
  • Develop and maintain NEET’s verbal and visual brand identity, including use of logo.
  • Create, write, edit, publish, and produce compelling and impactful communications and promotional materials, such as news stories, press releases, development materials (with guidance from School of Engineering Development Team), presentations, newsletters, digital media, social media, videos, invitations, and email campaigns promoting NEET students, the NEET program, and its threads and tracks to external and internal constituents including industry, the general public, faculty, current and prospective NEET students, MIT admits and students, alumni, and the greater MIT community; edit and proof all communications; develop and market publications
  • Develop, implement, and manage the annual recruitment of first-years (rising sophomores) for the four opt-in/opt-out NEET threads. 
  • Share memorable NEET student stories, and revise or create pieces of communication to ensure that they have a noteworthy message, a clear narrative, and impactful visuals.
  • Develop strategies to target admits and first-year students at key milestone events throughout the year, including Campus Preview Weekend (CPW) and Academic Expo at fall orientation. 
  • Identify and develop engagement opportunities with the NEET, MIT, and larger community.
  • Proactively attend student social events and visit classes and labs on a regular basis, for the purpose of capturing photos and video for promotional use and to identify, conceptualize, write, and/or edit a wide variety of student-related and other content for multiple channels and projects; generate speaking opportunities for NEET, e.g., to MIT alumni, at conferences, etc.
  • Serve as NEET’s media relations contact. Partner and liaise with other MIT Communication Officers and communicators in departments, the School of Engineering, the MIT News office, and MIT’s and the school’s Media Relations Offices and attend monthly meetings with colleagues from across the Institute, including Campus Communicators Group and Social Media Working Group.
  • Manage and use various digital platforms and channels.
  • Manage NEET’s public-facing website using the Weblium platform, including regular content updates and generation for NEET as well as for NEET thread websites. Make sure NEET thread requirements are up to date and clear. 
  • Actively manage social media accounts.
  • Use NEET’s internal Airtable student database.
  • Manage the NEET Slack channels.
  • Use desktop publishing software such as Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Creative Suite (or their equivalents); website management software such as Weblium (or its equivalent) for maintaining and updating the NEET website; social media/communication platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn, and, Slack; database management software such as Airtable; and cross-platform data sharing services such as Dropbox and Google Drive.
  • Manage copyright requirements, including requesting and obtaining appropriate permissions, as needed.

Will perform other duties as assigned.
 

Supervision Received: Receives direct supervision from Executive Director and oversight from the Faculty Director, NEET.

 

Supervision Exercised: None. May train and coordinate the work of other office support staff, student employees and/or temporary staff.


 

Required Qualifications & Skills

  • Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, journalism, or related field.
  • Minimum 5 years of communications/marketing experience required, preferably in a higher ed setting and/or in science/technology fields. 
  • Experience in content creation, social media, web platforms, digital communications, project coordination, and media relations.
  • A self-starter and initiative-taker who can function independently, on schedule, as part of a team, and collegially with faculty, instructors, staff, students, and others to develop, assess, and synthesize information and translate complex scientific concepts for a general audience.
  • Excellent project coordination, editorial, content development, copy editing (AP or CMS styles), proofreading, fact-checking, ATD, and written and oral communication skills.
  • High-level proficiency with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
  • Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite and with Weblium, Slack, Airtable, Dropbox, and Google Drive or their equivalents, and ability to learn these quickly on the job.
  • Ability to prioritize multiple work assignments and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment and collaborate collegially as part of a team. 
  • Friendly and cheerful demeanor with students. Must be able to promote NEET for recruiting first-year students and for outreach to current students and alums.
  • Outstanding creative, design and communication skills.
  • Exceptional people skills, listening skills, and empathetic attitude.

Preferred: Experience in MIT’s undergraduate academic environment working with students/faculty/staff or at an R1 institution. Communication, promotion, and design experience in industry of one-two years would be a definite plus.