Changes in university relations reflect the need to adapt relations VTX

Tracy Vosberg has been named vice president of communications and marketing, reporting to President Tim Sands and Vice President Charlie Flegar in a new role designed to elevate, streamline and integrate marketing and communications operations at the university.

Vosberg has served as Senior Associate Vice President for University Relations since joining the University in 2015, succeeding Vice President for Advancement Charlie Flegar. With this appointment, University Relations will now be known as Communications and Marketing and will remain part of the Advancement Department.

Vosburgh’s new position was created by Sands following a comprehensive communications and marketing review involving more than 200 people, including deans, vice presidents, communications professionals and other key stakeholders. The assessment was carried out by an external organisation.

“The review validates the success of our advancement model and highlights that University Relations is a high-performing, well-respected team comprised of deeply skilled and experienced communications and marketing professionals,” Sands said. “Our organizational communications model — where some departments report to University Relations and some do not — can create inconsistencies. Elevating our chief communicator to vice president, strengthening the leadership advisory role at the cabinet level, is an important step in aligning campus communications with higher university priorities,” he said. .

Phlegar, who recruited Vosberg out of Cornell University, strongly supported Sands’ decision to promote her to join the new advancement leadership team at Virginia Tech.

“Virginia Tech has a lot of great stories to tell. Our success at Advancement demonstrates the power of aligned relationships,” said Phlegar. “Clear messaging and strong branding have never been more important. Expanding our best practices across campus will help us achieve our strategic goals and raise our profile among the nation’s top research universities.

In her new role, Vosburgh is charged with developing a five-year campus-wide communications and marketing plan that brings both internally focused and externally focused communications into alignment. She will also lead an implementation team appointed by Sands and Phlegar to implement the report’s findings and recommendations, approved by the president. The group includes senior leaders from colleges and departments on campus.

Recommendations made in the report include:

• Balance campus communicators with shared fiscal responsibilities across organizational reporting lines and departments and Communications and Marketing. This will include a new, direct reporting line to Communications and Marketing for other university leadership bodies, including leadership communicators.
• Use this new aligned communication structure to improve clarity and alignment between internal and external communications.
• College deans provide discretion in determining whether senior communications should report directly to the dean or the college’s chief development officer, with the goal of meeting the development needs of college communications and the wider college and university.
• Create a greater position in communications and marketing to provide more shared central support to colleges and departments, thereby effectively leveraging existing resources.

During her time at Virginia Tech, Vosburgh created and led an integrated communications operation that supported priority goals and aligned with presidential priorities.

“Our brand awareness, university reputation, engagement and fundraising success have achieved new levels of success each year, evident under Charlie’s leadership, aligned communications and marketing strengths. The Divisions of Human Resources and Advancement have set a standard and a model that can work across the university,” Vosberg said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. I am encouraged by the potential of this new model and look forward to engaging with colleagues across campus as we develop the plan and review our alignment, policies, processes and resources to meet campus needs.

Under the leadership of Vosberg, he has a university connection:

• Rebranded Virginia Tech.
• Launched VTx, a new web presence and video platform.
• Last year, it created a media relations team to help facilitate more than 5,000 high-profile media contacts, up 100 percent from 2017-18.
• He launched the university’s annual State of the State address to highlight the president’s priorities.
• Expanded Central University’s social media team and developed a social media policy (Policy 1030) for the campus.
• The university’s 18-month Sequel Centrist celebration launched the brand and supported communications.
• Support key priorities such as reaching 40 percent representation of underrepresented minority students (Peil-eligible, first-generation, and veterans) in the entering class by 2022.
• Led a campus-wide Covid communications team to promote key messages to students and staff.
• He launched the Impact Without Borders campaign.
• In the year In 2016, they reached the 22 percent participation goal set by the President as part of the Advancement Coalition.

Prior to coming to Virginia Tech, Vosberg was Associate Vice President for University Communications at Cornell University and held broadcast management positions at Penn State Public Broadcasting, ABC/Ken Productions, National Geographic Society and McNeil/Lehrer News.