UIC Strategic Marketing and Communications reorganizes to align with campus priorities 

The Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications has significantly transformed and reorganized to strategically align with the priorities of the University of Illinois Chicago.  

“UIC’s Strategic Marketing and Communications team serves as a center of excellence dedicated to enhancing, elevating, stewarding, amplifying and protecting the reputation of the university while working in collaboration with communications partners across the university,” said Chandra Harris-McCray, vice chancellor for strategic marketing and communications.  

“As the university’s storytellers, our mission is to inform, inspire and engage to foster a strong sense of connection and pride within the university community and beyond.” 

The UIC community is invited to meet the Strategic Marketing and Communications team during an open house from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, on the 13th floor of University Hall, 601 S. Morgan St.   

A new team-of-teams approach within Strategic Marketing and Communications will ensure inclusive excellence, collaboration and creativity across seven units led by Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, associate vice chancellor for university communications; Jackie Carey, assistant vice chancellor for storytelling and content strategy; Vanessa Johnson, associate vice chancellor for marketing, inclusive of brand engagement, creative communications, digital marketing and engagement and marketing and media engagement; and Priscilla Velarde Wilson, who leads analytics and alignment. 

The new organizational structure includes: 

• University Communications: Oversees media relations, internal and executive communications and crisis/issues management.  
• Storytelling and Content Strategy: Inspires the UIC community and its stakeholders with impactful stories about UIC students, faculty, staff and alumni in three core areas: academics, advancement and research.  
• Brand Engagement: Collaborates with UIC leadership and UI Health to align, evolve and maintain the UIC brand, position, voice, pillars, visual identity, logos, naming architecture and more. 
• Creative Communications: Brings the UIC story to life through engaging visuals, from photography and videography to graphic design, creative templates, web elements and more.  
• Digital Marketing and Engagement: Creates and supports functionality in digital platforms to ensure the UIC online experience is informative and accessible. 
• Marketing and Media Engagement: Develops campaign content and media strategy, manages commercial filming projects on campus, and oversees the licensing program to protect and promote the university’s registered trademarks.  
• Analytics and Alignment: Supports data metrics, analytics, workflow, processes, training, operations, workshops and project management. 
  

“This transformation marks a pivotal step to align our infrastructure with modern integrated marketing communications better practices,” Harris-McCray said. “I am confident it will lead to continued elevation of UIC.”