Communications and Content Specialist

Communications and Content Specialist

Department: Marketing and Communications

Reports To: Executive Director of Marketing

Location: Lamoni, IA

Position Summary

The Communications and Content Specialist is a key member of the Marketing and Communications team and reports to the Executive Director of Marketing. This position helps strengthen Graceland University's brand through compelling storytelling, engaging written communications, and consistent messaging across print and digital platforms.

Working closely with the Executive Director of Marketing, the Coordinator identifies, researches, writes, and edits stories that support student recruitment, student success, alumni engagement, fundraising, and institutional communications. The position assists in maintaining the University's editorial voice and contributes to a wide variety of communication projects serving prospective students, current students, alumni, donors, faculty, staff, and friends of the University.

The Coordinator serves as the assistant editor and primary writer of Horizons , Graceland's magazine for alumni and friends. The position also manages university announcements through myGraceland, administers the Merit recognition platform, coordinates website content updates, and works with campus departments to ensure communications are accurate, timely, engaging, and optimized for search engines and AI discovery.

The Coordinator assists with donor communications, executive messaging, communication planning, grant proposal development, and crisis communications. The position may supervise student employees and must exercise sound judgment while maintaining strict confidentiality when working with sensitive institutional information.

Primary Responsibilities

• Develop written communications that support enrollment, student and staff retention, alumni engagement, fundraising, and institutional priorities.
• Research, interview, write, and edit stories featuring students, faculty, staff, alumni, and university programs.
• Serve as assistant editor and primary writer of Horizons , Graceland's magazine for alumni and friends, including assisting with planning, story development, writing, and editing.
• Assist in maintaining editorial standards and a consistent institutional voice across university communications.
• Assist in creating and adhering to a master communications calendar.
• Produce content for websites, newsletters, email campaigns, donor materials, reports, and other print and digital communications.
• Manage university announcements through the myGraceland intranet.
• Administer the University's Merit recognition platform.
• Coordinate website content updates with academic and administrative departments.
• Review website content for accuracy, readability, accessibility, and SEO/AI optimization.
• Assist with donor communications, fundraising materials, and stewardship messaging.
• Assist in researching and preparing grant proposals and supporting materials.
• Assist with executive messaging, communication planning, and crisis communications.
• Hire, train, supervise, and assign work to student employees as assigned.
• Build positive working relationships with faculty, staff, and students to identify communication opportunities.
• Monitor communication performance and recommend improvements.
• Maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive information.

Perform other duties as assigned.

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Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, English, or a related field.
• One to three years of professional experience in communications, marketing, journalism, public relations, or a related field. Relevant internships, campus media, or graduate assistant experience may be considered.
• Excellent writing, editing, proofreading, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Strong interviewing and storytelling abilities.
• Familiarity with website content management systems or the ability to learn quickly.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects.
• Ability to work collaboratively as a member of a team and build positive relationships across campus.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise sound professional judgment.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office 365\.

Preferred

• Experience in higher education, nonprofit communications, student media, or journalism.
• Experience in grant writing.
• Familiarity with AP Style.
• Experience writing for websites, newsletters, magazines, or social media.
• Familiarity with content management systems, Merit, Slate, and WordPress.
• Basic understanding of SEO and digital content best practices.
• Experience supervising student employees or interns.