JOB SUMMARY
The Director of Development and Alumni Communications at UT Southwestern leads strategic communication efforts to enhance engagement, cultivate relationships, and drive philanthropic support from donors, alumni, and key stakeholders. This position collaborates with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations to craft compelling messaging and campaigns that resonate with diverse audiences, reflecting the mission and values of UT Southwestern. Key responsibilities include developing and executing comprehensive communication plans for fundraising initiatives, alumni engagement programs, and stewardship efforts. The Director oversees the creation of digital, print, and social media content, donor impact reports, newsletters, and high-profile event materials. They will manage a team of communications professionals, ensuring consistency in branding and voice across all platforms.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS/EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE
- Required:
- Bachelor’s degree in a related field required.
- Ten (10) years of related experience required
- Preferred:
- Supervisory experience preferred.
- Marketing Cloud experience preferred.
- An advanced degree in public relations, communications, or constituent relations.
- Experience applying such knowledge in an academic medical center setting preferred.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
- Provides overall leadership in the design, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive philanthropy communications program in support of UT Southwestern.
- Ensures UT Southwestern’s philanthropy communications program is conceived within and driven by the medical center’s strategic plan as articulated by the President.
- Works collaboratively with communications colleagues throughout the University in developing and executing a communications plan for donors and potential donors, ensuring clarity and consistency in key messages and themes.
- Oversees the development of a core case of support for the medical center and its distinct units.
- Oversees and coordinates the establishment of communications standards for publications, web sites, campaign materials, collateral documents, and other components so that UT Southwestern can promote its philanthropic objectives within a clearly defined framework.
- Guides, oversees, and coordinates the Friends publications for the various community groups that support the University’s on campus clinical and research endeavors. These include, but are not limited, to the Friends of Alzheimer’s, the Friends of the Center for Human Nutrition, the Friends of Mineral Metabolism, the Friends of Heart, Lung, and Vascular Programs, the Mini-Medical School programs, Alumni mailings and solicitations, and the President’s Research Council.
- Coordinates the internal communication of policies and procedures for faculty and staff giving to UT Southwestern Medical Center.
- Coordinates the development of communication campaigns describing the philanthropic opportunities available to internal and external audiences and identify the most promising venues for delivering key concepts.
- Serves as the department’s key liaison in working with colleagues across the University to ensure that web sites have appropriate philanthropic content; and that home pages provide clear, accessible, and functional opportunities for on-line giving.
- Evaluates the potential application of developing e-mail push pages and solicitation strategies for alumni and grateful patients who provide e-mail addresses.
- Recruits and builds a talented and experienced staff to serve as a resource for major gift officers and senior administrators in the formulation of proposals, talking points, executive briefings, and background materials. Supervises the writing/production of campaign publications, including case statements and collateral materials.
- Identifies and prioritizes key target audiences and shape consistent themes and messages to promote philanthropic interests.
- Remains up to date with best practices standards and establishes metrics for benchmarking performance against like programs.
- Establishes presence in professional organizations that serve as a forum for trends and achievements in development communications.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Any qualifications to be considered as equivalents in lieu of stated minimums require prior approval of the Vice President for Human Resources or his/her designee.
This position is security-sensitive and thereby subject to the provisions of Texas Education Code §51.215.
ABOUT UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center ranks among the top academic medical centers in the world. Its faculty members – who are responsible for a broad array of groundbreaking biomedical research advances – are respected for their dedication to teaching and patient care. The medical center has four degree-granting institutions: UT Southwestern Medical School, UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UT Southwestern School of Health Professions and the UT Southwestern School of Public Health. The schools train about 3,700 medical, graduate, and allied health students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows each year.
UT Southwestern was named one of the Top 5 Best Organizations for Leadership Development (BOLD) Award winners by the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) in 2022. The NCHL conducts a survey of health care organizations across the U.S. every other year to assess all components of organizations’ efforts to prepare and develop leaders.
A great medical center offers outstanding patient care in addition to fine teaching and innovative research. We emphasize compassionate medical treatment. UT Southwestern’s physicians are equipped to bring the latest laboratory findings to each patient. We provide inpatient care to nearly 117,000 people and oversee approximately 3 million outpatient visits annually. UT Southwestern has approximately 21,000 employees and an operating budget of approximately $4.1 billion.
