Vice President for University Communications and Marketing

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) seeks an experienced and strategic leader to serve as its inaugural Vice President for University Communications and Marketing (VP). Committed to inclusive excellence in practice and values, UMBC is proud to be one of the nation's fastest-growing and most diverse public top-tier universities. The University’s vibrant campus is regarded as a new model for American higher education – a place where talented students, faculty, and staff thrive in a culture that embraces and encourages innovative ideas and collaboration. 

As the University builds on its remarkable momentum of recent years, the Vice President for Communications and Marketing will help sustain and strengthen the University’s standing among the nation’s leading institutions and advance the strategic goals of the institution. This position presents a compelling opportunity to play a key role in shaping communications and marketing strategies in support of the next era in UMBC’s dynamic trajectory. The VP will also be responsible for advising the President and leading the University more broadly through crisis communications situations. Previously embedded within the UMBC Office for Institutional Advancement, a new division of University Communications and Marketing has been created, elevating this strategic function and creating a VP role as a direct report to the President and key member of her senior leadership team. The VP will lead and influence all communications and marketing efforts across the University and will serve as the principal advisor to the President on all communications-related matters. 

Working closely with President Valerie Sheares Ashby, fellow members of the senior leadership team, students, staff, faculty, and alumni, the VP will develop and implement a comprehensive, modern marketing and communications program capable of meeting the University’s ambitious objectives and further enhancing the University’s national and international reputation and resources. The executive will lead a centralized staff of approximately 30 talented communications and marketing professionals and partner with others within the University’s schools, departments, programs, and divisions. This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic leader to define and build an innovative and ambitious approach to communications and marketing that advances messaging for UMBC as a whole by reaching each of the University’s distinct audiences through tailored, effective, and impactful approaches. 

The ideal candidate will have substantial experience developing and implementing multi-faceted communications and marketing efforts that position and elevate the perception of an entire organization with multiple audiences, preferably in a higher-education context. This person will have keen strategic and planning skills, a thorough understanding of traditional, modern, and emerging methods, techniques, and channels, and a comprehensive understanding of communications and marketing processes, from creative conception through fulfillment. Demonstrable leadership and managerial skills and institutional savvy are key, as are a collaborative and collegial nature, emotional intelligence, intercultural competence, and a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). The VP must be able to bring many constituents to the table, understand their various concerns and priorities, and craft strategies and programs that address multiple needs. The successful candidate will be intellectually curious and committed to active engagement in the campus and local communities. 

Keight Tucker Kennedy is leading this search with Alexis Ditaway.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, values safety, cultural and ethnic diversity, social responsibility, lifelong learning, equity, and civic engagement. Consistent with these principles, the UMBC does not discriminate in offering equal access to its educational programs and activities or with respect to employment terms and conditions on the basis of a UMBC community member’s race, creed, color, religion, sex, gender, pregnancy, ancestry, age, gender identity or expression, national origin, veterans status, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or genetic information.