Dear Colleagues,
Today I write to share information on our vision for marketing and communications at OU. It has been just over nine months since the vacancy in our Vice President for Marketing and Communications role and during that time, we have made progress in determining the next steps on this critical role for OU. We are in the process of a national search to fill this university-wide role, whose work is essential to elevating the prominence of OU’s wide-ranging successes.
The role will lead a unified university Division of Marketing and Communications and be given the charge to cohesively and proactively manage and develop the OU brand across our entire institution. The overall vision for the division includes one marketing and communications enterprise with our team spanning the institution and embedding across colleges, campuses, enrollment, athletics, research, and beyond.
As we implement our “Lead On, University” Strategic Plan, our need for a modern and proactive university marketing and communications enterprise will be a key element to our success.
The move to a unified university division will allow us to more cohesively and proactively plan, realize benefits of scale on areas such as media buying and digital marketing, and integrate our brand across our entire institution. While this may feel like a big change from our current structure, it is important to know what this is not – it is not homogenized marketing, it is not a ticketing system to receive marketing support, it is not breaking down excellent existing work structures. The new structure will be designed to thoughtfully unlock our full potential as Oklahoma’s biggest brand.
We will begin engaging all marketers and communicators across OU to begin leveraging our resources and developing the operational structures to create a unified division in anticipation of the arrival of our new Vice President for Marketing and Communications later this summer. I’ve asked Jennifer Schultz, Senior Vice President of Marketing and External Relations at OU Health, to chair our search committee and lead this effort as we prepare to deliver a newly formed university MarComm division for this leader.
These efforts are both important and exciting as we bring our Strategic Plan to life. Thank you for your support as we begin this process.
Live On, University,
Joseph Harroz, Jr.
President
