Gateway Community & Technical College is hiring: Student Communication Specialis

Student Communication Specialist (Academic Support Specialist III)

Title: Student Communication Specialist (Academic Support Specialist III)

Salary Range: $47,118.00

Standard Hours: 37.5

Work Location: Discretionary Hybrid

FLSA Status: Non-Exempt

College: Gateway Community & Technical College

Department: Student Support Services

Total Rewards

• Exceptional health care, vision, and dental coverage for you and your family
• Tuition reimbursement/waiver for you, your spouse, and dependents
• 403(b) retirement plan: a 5% employee contribution receives a 10% employer match
• Vacation/Sick Time
• Work-Life Balance
• 9.5 Paid Holidays
• 2 Weeks Institutional Closing Pay (Last 2 weeks of December) for qualifying positions
• Employee Assistance Program

Job Summary

The Communication Specialist supports the college’s student success, retention, and engagement goals by developing and delivering timely, targeted, and student-friendly communications throughout the entire student lifecycle—from applicant to graduate. This role combines strategic messaging, data-informed outreach, and creative storytelling to connect students with resources, deadlines, and opportunities that promote persistence and completion. The role also leverages emerging technologies, including AI-assisted communication tools and centralized knowledge bases, to improve message accuracy, consistency, personalization, and institutional knowledge sharing.

Job Duties

• Update and manage the student communication calendar.
• Partner with the Marketing and Communications team to align student communications with institutional branding, visual standards, and tone.
• Coordinate shared campaigns and messaging to ensure clarity and avoid duplication across audiences.
• Maintain a comprehensive communication calendar that aligns with college-wide enrollment, advising, financial aid, and academic deadlines.
• Coordinate messaging across departments to ensure clear, consistent, and timely outreach to all student populations, including new, returning, transfer, credit-for-prior-learning, English language learners, and dual-credit students.
• Create and deliver multi-channel communications.
• Write, design, and distribute targeted messages across email, Constant Contact, and text that engage students and promote participation.
• Collaborate with the Marketing team to develop student engagement content for social media channels, ensuring consistency with the college’s social media strategy.
• Lead coordinated campus-wide campaigns—collaborate with Admissions, Advising, Financial Aid, Student Success & Engagement, and Academic Affairs to execute unified communication strategies for major initiatives (e.g., registration, FAFSA completion, student events, and graduation).
• Track and evaluate outcomes to improve reach and effectiveness.
• Leverage data and AI analytics to enhance communication and retention.
• Use analytics and student data to assess campaign impact, identify communication gaps, and refine strategies in support of the college’s Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) goals.
• Utilize AI-assisted analytics and reporting tools to identify trends, improve message timing, and increase relevance.
• Manage current and future communication tools and technology and AI-enabled platforms.
• Serve as lead user for communication systems such as Signal Vine, Constant Contact, and Anthology Reach and related systems.
• Oversee platform setup, audience segmentation, compliance, and staff training.
• Evaluate and implement AI-supported communication features.
• Develop and manage AI-supported communication knowledge bases.
• Design, organize, and maintain centralized knowledge bases housing approved messaging, templates, FAQs, workflows, and communication standards.
• Ensure content accuracy, accessibility, and alignment with institutional policies.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to support scalable and consistent student-facing communications.
• Support strategic enrollment, retention, and college-wide goals.
• Lead SEM Communication team and assist in developing and implementing communication strategies aligned with Gateway’s Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan and the broader Strategic Plan.
• Ensure all outreach advances institutional priorities—expanding access, improving student success, and strengthening organizational sustainability.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent and 4 to 6 years of relevant experience.
• Degree in Communication, Marketing or equivalent.
• High attention to detail, independent, self-motivated, adaptable to fast-paced environments.
• Skilled in engaging and supporting students from diverse different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Professional and courteous communication at all levels, both internally and externally.
• Clear verbal and written skills.
• Efficiently prioritize and meet deadlines.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, Forms, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Word).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working at the community college level.
• Strategic communication planning.
• Digital marketing and engagement tools such as Signal Vine, Anthology Reach, Constant Contact or other CRM.
• Writing and Editing expertise.
• Design and Visual Communication such as Canva, Adobe.
• Ability to use AI-assisted communication and productivity tools.
• Knowledge base and content library management experience.

Additional Skills Requested

This position will continue to evolve as communication technologies advance and may support pilot initiatives related to AI-enabled student engagement, knowledge management, and communication optimization.

Seniority level

• Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Marketing, Public Relations, and Writing/Editing

Industries

• Higher Education

Gateway Community & Technical College is an equal opportunity employer.