Current state of the marketing and communications organization
Today, MarCom work is distributed across many offices and colleges, creating fragmented messaging, siloed effort and spending, and an uneven audience experience at the very moment when enrollment competition, marketing and communications disruption and AI-driven digital audience behavior are accelerating. Several listening exercises over the past year have noted that strong people are working within a system that makes it hard to show up as one university. Maintaining the status quo would weaken our competitive position.
The redesign will bring University marketing and communications teammates together as a single, coordinated enterprise guided by a shared strategy, clear brand direction and shared operating expectations, while preserving direct strategic support for colleges and units. In practical terms, this means clearer brand frameworks, stronger enrollment support, crisper and more consistent messages, shared tools and data, and coordinated strategies that advance reputation, alumni and donor engagement, and other institutional priorities. The redesign will shift our marketing and communications enterprise from a heavy reliance on generalists toward more specialized, integrated and evidence-based activations. Every college and unit can tap deeper expertise while still receiving local support.
Benefits
For the University
- A more enrollment‑driven, distinctive brand with resources better aligned to WMU’s most pressing competitive challenges.
- Stronger coordination across channels and units, producing clearer messages and better outcomes from existing investments.
- Greater ability to optimize for modern marketing by integrating planning, execution and measurement across the enterprise.
For colleges and departments
- Broader access to specialized expertise across marketing and communications disciplines instead of relying primarily on isolated, local capacity.
- Better alignment with brand, enrollment, advancement and University goals, supported by shared planning and service-level agreements (SLAs) that clarify roles on both sides.
- Clearer expectations for support, escalation and prioritization, reducing ambiguity and helping leaders understand how work will be requested, prioritized and delivered.
For affected teammates
- A people-centered transition with a fair, good-faith opportunity to demonstrate strengths, align to roles and grow in a more modern and discipline-supported environment.
- Greater role clarity, more precise definitions of success and a stronger professional community through clearer structures and specialization.
- Better career paths, supported by training, shared tools and colleagues in similar roles across the enterprise.
Planning approach
Leadership: Tony Proudfoot, vice president for marketing and strategic communications, with governance support from the President, Cabinet and an executive advisory group. An implementation team and MarCom leadership will support and inform the work.
Planning will be phased, transparent and feedback-driven rather than immediate or one-size-fits-all. The design philosophy is based on clear expectations, stakeholder input, shared planning and service-level agreements, so that colleges and units continue to receive local support within a more coordinated institutional framework. During the planning phases, current reporting lines and responsibilities will remain in place, while we inventory work, gather input and test models before changes take effect in January.
Timeline and phases
Discovery phase: July – October
Inventory staff roles, current skills, reporting lines, tools, vendors, contracts and spending; conduct stakeholder interviews with deans, department heads and marketing and communications staff; and draft a high-level operating model for feedback.
Planning phase: October – December
Finalize the provisional organizational structure and job descriptions; develop SLAs; map existing roles to future roles; standardize processes and tools; and finalize transition planning, training needs and key performance indicators.
Implementation phase 1: January – June 2027
Implement the provisional organizational chart and job descriptions; begin executing SLAs; begin unifying tools; establish measurement baselines; and identify high-level refinements based on feedback from staff and campus partners.
Implementation phase 2: July 2027
Finalize the organizational chart and job descriptions; continue executing service-level agreements and assess adoption through check-ins with staff and stakeholders, making further adjustments as needed.
Recent communications
Connect with Administrative Redesign leadership
Other Administrative Redesign initiatives
Financial and administrative operations
A campuswide assessment is underway to identify where shared services could ease routine finance and HR work.
IT redesign
Campus technology teams are coming together under unified leadership to strengthen security and simplify support.
Strategic sourcing and spending
A new approach to procurement and contracts aims to stretch every non-personnel dollar further.
Space utilization
Classroom scheduling and investment decisions are shifting to match how space is actually used.