Role: Primary Researcher & Strategist | Public Information Office
Institutional Context: Developed in collaboration with the Public Information Officer (PIO) and Institutional Marketing & Communications to expand college media-relations capacity and position faculty and staff as trusted expert sources.
Strategic Overview
Working under the direction of the Public Information Officer, I served as the primary researcher, strategist, and developer for the SLCC Media Experts Program. My mandate was to conduct the foundational research, audit campus-wide subject-matter expertise, evaluate regional news cycles, and build the initial communications infrastructure required to launch a scalable thought-leadership resource. The resulting frameworks, database architecture, and public-facing directory were reviewed and finalized through the Public Information Office and are moving toward institutional deployment via the SLCC Newsroom.
Core Contributions & Deliverables Strategic Research & Program Design:
- Benchmarked higher education media-expert models and national thought-leadership platforms to define program architecture and operational workflows.
- Authored foundational strategic planning documents, policy recommendations, and implementation roadmaps informing program development.
Institution-Wide Expertise Audits & Vetting:
- Designed and executed a comprehensive audit across academic divisions to identify faculty and staff subject-matter expertise.
- Evaluated prospective experts based on academic discipline, media readiness, and alignment with anticipated news coverage.
- Built and organized the central expert database, structuring profile templates, topic tags, and biographical entries.
Media Intelligence & Demand Forecasting:
- Conducted environmental scans of Utah print, broadcast, and digital media coverage to identify emerging public issues where SLCC faculty could provide informed commentary.
- Analyzed historical media placements to identify institutional coverage gaps and pinpoint high-opportunity commentary beats.
Communications Infrastructure & Newsroom Integration:
- Developed the information architecture and content taxonomy for the public-facing expert directory designed for working journalists and community partners.
- Formulated expert onboarding toolkits, interview preparation guidelines, and outreach materials.
- Prepared assets and technical specifications supporting the seamless integration of the expert directory into the centralized SLCC Newsroom.