What, no comments?
Announce one of the biggest changes in communications on campus in years, and no comments! Come on folks. I want to hear from you. i need to hear from you. What are your dreams and wishes? What are your concerns and issues? If you want to keep your comments private, there’s email or the telephone.
Passion Rules!
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6 comments
We need it. Implement. But until the unit/college communicators work for you, or are evaluated by you, and given raises by you, and fired for not coordinating across the university, they will continue to serve the interests of their college or unit and not the interests of the university overall. It is not their fault. You get what you measure and you work for who pays your salary. Kill a couple of college projects because they are not aligned to the university brand and then you will be taken seriously. Until then I think folks think it is more business as usual.
The chief communication officer should report to the CEO. Private, public or whatever organization — communication should be a major strategy taking place at the highest level. To the get alignment Mr. Mouse was referring to, Joe and his direct reports should report directly to the CEO, or chancellor, in our case. Then, and only then, will they have the credibility to call on alignment from the rest of the university. Until then, they’re part of the fundraisers.
And I say that with all respect to Nevin and his advancement team. These functions should be separate and equal.
Actually, to be totally fair?
I would like a “Leader”.
Not some ‘nice’ guy who asks “What do you think?”
Rather, some steel-eyed guy who says, “OK, I’m here, and starting tomorrow? We are doing it this way. Period.”
Right, or wrong. But it IN CHARGE.
Something this campus has missed for far too long,
I’ve been retired from Advancement/Public Affairs 3 years and the discussion about where Communications should report was old news when I left and is getting older. Anyone with common sense knows that the Communications Chief, whatever his/her title, needs to report to the top. And needs to be a part of every University decision. I never saw that happen.
Good luck with that. As long as University Communications is just another office in Advancement, the money and the effort will go where it brings the most return…. development. I can’t remember how many times I was told— “we bring in money and all you guys do is spend it”. Change that attitude and you might make it.
First, I’m thrilled to see the changes to the Communications O-chart. I would very much like to see Joe’s position report directly to the Chancellor–it just doesn’t make sense to have communications for the university fall under development. I salute the move and look forward to working with everyone in University Communications.
And as for having the Directors of Communications in the colleges report to Joe, I strongly disagree with the idea and the accusation. The college communications directors are on board with the brand and all have taken steps to work within its guidelines. And, as Joe has pointed out, the colleges do have their own audiences that they must communicate with, and this necessitates having individual comm directors in each college. We also function as the college’s liaison with University Communications, feeding information on research, outreach, students and alumni to the larger communications unit as well as bringing the messaging to the college from the university level. We already do this without having to report directly to Joe. So I take great offense at being accused of not being a team player.
I would ask Anon E Mouse for proof of his/her accusations against the directors. One must remember that not all communications that come out of a particular college or unit are under the control of the communications director.
I do believe that continued communication about the brand and the Strategic Communications Plan will help make the brand more widely used by all the units.
Overall, I’d have to say that after 25 years at NC State, I’m finally feeling like we might be moving in a good direction, especially where communications are concerned.
As Jenny notes, I believe the colleges should maintain their own identity and I think the best way to do that is by having the director of communications report to the dean. This is the case in most, but not all, colleges and I’m committed to working toward this goal. In cases where deans might not want that direct report, we can look at other models, but . . .
I’m excited with the responses I’ve received about the reorganization. The teams in University Communications and CALS Communications Services are already starting to work together as a single unit. Very exciting. The spirit is high. Sure there are lots of unknowns and there will be bumps along the way, but we have a strong vision and we all want to do what’s best for NC State. You know what I say, Passion Rules!
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