For the Common Good
Strategic Plan 2024–2034 for University of Massachusetts Amherst
Mission
Our work is foundational to the success of UMass Amherst: We elevate the university by stewarding its reputation and telling the story of its significant contributions in advancing the boundaries of knowledge for the common good.
Vision
Guided by a collaborative mindset and a deep commitment to excellence in all that we do, we ensure the continued prominence of UMass Amherst as a globally recognized research university leading the way toward a just and sustainable future for all.
Values
Excellence
We believe every member of University Relations contributes to our ongoing success by striving for the highest level of excellence.
Belonging
We foster the health and well-being of our members through a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment, where everyone feels connected and valued—and thrives.
Collaboration
With mutual respect for our differing perspectives and skills, we work as a team to build trust and successfully accomplish our shared goals.
Authenticity
Unbound by convention, we are bold, creative, and, above all, authentic.
Integrity
We strive to ensure our work is intentional and ethical, and university resources are used responsibly.
Goal 1
Share Value
Tell the compelling story of UMass Amherst and proactively steward its reputation, ensuring all stakeholders and constituencies understand the immeasurable value of the university and its demonstrated ROI for the commonwealth and beyond.
Next goal: Advance PrioritiesRationale
UMass Amherst, like other universities across the country, faces a unique challenge in telling its story and stewarding its reputation. While most organizations and companies are messaging simultaneously to a few somewhat similar audiences, such as employees and shareholders, UMass Amherst is messaging to a multitude of stakeholders and constituencies, each of whom have very different interests and perspectives related to the university: current students, faculty, and staff; university trustees; alumni and donors; state and federal elected officials and agencies; private industry partners; prospective students and their families; the media; our neighboring communities; Massachusetts taxpayers; and peer and aspirational institutions.
By leveraging its expertise to message consistently, accurately, and effectively across this wide array of audiences, University Relations (UR) continues advancing and elevating the university. Stewarding the reputation of the university and sharing its compelling stories of success among its many stakeholders, UR contributes to strong student recruitment; ongoing state support; growth in alumni engagement; increased donor participation; expanded opportunities for research funding; positive media coverage; harmonious community relations; and rising reputational consideration among our aspirational institutions. 1
1 Concept for these paragraphs informed by Building Higher Ed Crisis Management and Communication Muscle
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The Office of News and Media Relations plays a key role in garnering earned and organic media to elevate the profile and reputation of the university. This work significantly advances recruitment and retention of students and world-class faculty; drives alumni engagement and philanthropic activity; and creates employer demand for graduates. News and Media Relations drives this exposure by promoting the achievements, activities, and expertise of faculty, staff, and students to a wide variety of audiences, including international, national, and regional media. This work includes proactive media pitches; promotion of campus leadership and faculty expertise; national TV appearances and livestreaming; helping departments and faculty with their social media presence; and social media content creation. In telling the stories of UMass Amherst, the Office of News and Media Relations will quantifiably track its year-over-year reach and effectiveness:
- Total number of media hits across print, online, and broadcast (television and radio) media each fiscal year, noting publication influence, advertisement value, impressions, etc.
- Number of experts interviewed
- Share of voice
- Social media metrics for YouTube, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and Threads:
- Audience growth per channel
- Engagement rate per channel
- Video views, particularly on Reels and Shorts
- Competitor analysis to provide a benchmark to compare our metrics against
- Link clicks, measuring traffic impact on our website
- Traffic to the UMass Amherst News and Events website:
- Overall number of site views, scroll depth, and growth in views over time
- Number of views of published news articles in Inside UMass and growth in average views over time
- Number of multimedia stories, including video, on social media, and in Inside UMass
- Number of views of events calendar items
- Number of published events, measuring reach and engagement with event organizers
- Number of readers and clicks for Daily News Summary
- Performance of multimedia
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The Marketing Communications Team will continue to produce UMass Magazine to enable a strong and sustainable connection with alumni and the greater UMass community at large. The magazine will deliver a direct, tactile, and tangible representation of the UMass experience, and will communicate the uniqueness of UMass in a way that resonates with and inspires advocacy in all key audiences. Meaningful engagement will be measured by:
- Growth of the subscriber base
- Open rate of digital product and monthly social postings
- Engagement rate (likes and sharing) with the digital product and monthly social posts
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The Marketing Communications Team works to define, position, and render the brand in a way that ensures consistency, relevancy, and resonance with key internal and external audiences. The team achieves this optimal brand expression across multiple channels, platforms, and touchpoints in the branded experience, and commits to measuring and monitoring the impact of the brand so it is on point at all times. To achieve measurable outcomes, the team will focus on these key areas:
- Elevate UMass Amherst’s brand presence—both nationally and globally—by highlighting outstanding achievements and diverse perspectives through campaign execution and compelling storytelling. Utilizing data-driven insights from brand health research to guide our planning, targeting key audiences across a variety of platforms, increasing engagement and visibility through both paid and owned media, including the UMass.edu homepage.
- Continue to develop and deepen strategic partnerships with campus partners and campus communicators to share the work of our brand campaign and increase involvement by sharing campus stories and best marketing practices.
- Conduct user design and user experience testing to ensure the visual design language of the university homepage and Ecosystem websites continues to represent and strengthen the UMass Amherst brand.
- Refine brand architecture, portal, guidelines, and best practices to ensure an optimal and consistent brand expression across campus.
- Define and apply insights and research-driven brand positioning and framework to be reflected on site properties, creative materials, campaigns, and signage.
- Ensure robust adoption of Marketing Cloud/Mass Communications Policies and Procedures and brand guidelines.
- Continued outreach and training with communicators across campus.
- Increase impressions and engagement on key social media platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat) that authentically reflect the UMass Amherst spirit and campus achievements through the lens of students.
- Align social content with the Admissions funnel to attract and engage prospective students at the right moments in their journey.
- Drive traffic to UMass.edu.
Related KPIs
- Site performance—traffic to site, time on site, number of pages viewed
- Brand portal utilization rate with campus partners, brand architecture compliance, system design consistency across ecosystem, canvas utilization
- Homepage stats including traffic, time on HP Suite site, site link performance, SEO performance, ADA
- Compliance, conversion optimization for Admissions section
- Adoption and compliance rate of Cloud user base
- Impressions, engagement rate, click-through rate for paid social media posts
The Office of Community Relations and University Events (CRUE) brings the UMass Amherst brand to life with polished, high-visibility events that showcase the university and advance an appreciation for the immeasurable value of the flagship campus. Metrics for success include tracking attendance at events, with a focus on VIPs and other groups specifically invited to experience the excellence of the university.
CRUE also manages university town-gown relations, working closely with our host communities to foster a collaborative partnership, including through the new UMass Downtown site. In working with Student Affairs and Campus Life and other university colleagues, CRUE tracks the following metrics:
- Noise complaints called in to the UMass Police Department
- Other miscellaneous complaints from neighbors made to the university
- Ambulance transports of UMass students to hospitals
- Engagement with nonprofit organizations and local businesses
- Participation and funding raised through UMass Amherst Community Campaign
The Office of Issues Management (OIM) oversees the Incident Response Team (IRT)—a cross-functional group of administrators from across campus charged with monitoring, reporting on, and mitigating potential and active issues within their units. Through long-term horizon scanning, the OIM and IRT will identify emerging trends within higher education and track increases in concerning factors, such as increased incidents on other campuses or changes in federal or state policies.
As part of the university-wide new employee orientation process, the OIM will conduct bi-annual workshops for new university leadership to ensure understanding and engagement with both UR issues management and the IRT. The OIM will track year-over-year levels of engagement with university leadership.
The OIM will track year-over-year campus issues management through a newly developed internal issues database.
The OIM and the Office of News and Media Relations will develop an integrated issues management monitoring and response strategy.
Goal 2
Advance Priorities
Use innovative, data-driven marketing and communication strategies to support and advance university-wide priorities for student recruitment, retention, graduation, and lifelong alumni engagement.
Next goal: Expand EngagementRationale
Changing demographics, the rising cost of attending college, and the easing of bachelor’s degree requirements for some jobs have contributed to undergraduate recruitment challenges across the country. In this increasingly competitive environment, it is critical that we implement marketing strategies that distinguish us from our competition, effectively communicate our value proposition, and make an authentic, compelling case for choosing UMass Amherst. Today’s prospective students are digitally savvy, demanding of transparency, and resistant to a one-size-fits-all approach. To successfully compete, UMass Amherst must meet them where they are with relevant, personalized, and authentic engagements that address their unique needs, goals, and college selection journey.
To ensure UMass Amherst remains competitive in the higher education market, the Marketing Communications Team will continue to innovate and enhance the university’s state-of-the-art communications infrastructure:
- Extend our successful Web Ecosystem initiative, with its cohesive web design and content strategy, to academic departments’ sites by utilizing the UMass Framework development platform and partner with Information Technology on the overall website strategy for the UMass Amherst campus.
- Support university-wide goals for recruitment by executing a reinvigorated and expanded “Be Revolutionary” branding campaign in alignment with the university’s 10-year strategic plan.
- Advance campuswide goals for yield, retention, and graduation through “Journey UMass,” a data-driven, state-of-the art student support technology providing holistic, customized services and support based on individual interests and needs. Social media will be utilized to connect with prospective students by creating targeted and engaging content tailored to their unique interests. Platforms like Instagram Reels and Stories, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts enable authentic storytelling through videos and interactive posts that showcase campus culture and academic opportunities.
Related KPIs
- SEO and CRO performance of Admissions pages; traffic to site pages, site links, time on site, number of pages viewed, conversion of micro (brochure requests, tour signup) and macro conversions (click to enroll, deposit payment)
- Organic media results for HR-based social posts
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The Marketing Communications Team will partner with Information Technology (IT) on the overall campus website strategy and expand the cohesive web design and content strategy of the successful UR Web Ecosystem initiative:
- Support the UMass Framework development platform, influenced by the Web Ecosystem initiative, to reinforce the 53 academic department websites to present a unified visual design and content strategy that showcases academic program content.
- Provide analytics reports and regular website integrity checks with Ecosystem clients focusing on web content best practices, review the performance of their websites based on KPIs, and other recommendations for improvements.
- Build and manage our strategic and tactical foundation for data-driven marketing efforts by implementing, self-managing, and maintaining analytics activities to inform data-driven marketing efforts, best practices in data management, and reporting needs.
Related KPIs
- SEO performance of ecosystem homepage, time on school/college site
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The Marketing Communications Team will execute a reinvigorated and expanded “Be Revolutionary” branding campaign:
- Expand branding initiatives into new markets identified by Undergraduate Admissions.
- Support Undergraduate Admissions’ targeted goals for applications, yield, and enrollment.
- Create a personalized and comprehensive digital experience for prospective students, conveying the essence of the UMass brand promise.
- Customize marketing tactics throughout the admissions cycle with a particular focus on yield in URM communities.
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Provide ongoing marketing support for UMass Flex and University Without Walls programs. Success will be measured for paid media including social and search, and site performance based on the following KPIs:
Related KPIs
- Impressions
- Click-through rate and cost per click
- Video/audio completions
- Paid media web traffic to UMass.edu
- UMass.edu site engagement (pageviews, time on page, event completions)
- Homepage suite performance
- Customized campaign landing page performance
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Working closely with Academic Affairs, Information Technology, and Student Affairs and Campus Life, the Marketing Communications Team will complete the final planning and initial implementation stages of “Journey UMass.” The Journey UMass Program has a separate charter with specific goals and KPIs. Two goals worth noting include:
- Streamline communications to reduce overload and increase relevance.
- Establish a common campus events listing and related protocols to promote events.
Related KPIs
- Launch of Local Calendar working group
- Launch of Communications Evolution working group
- Adoption and Training of Education Cloud
- Customized campaign landing page performance
Goal 3
Expand Engagement
Expand the reach and influence of UMass Amherst by developing partnerships to leverage university strengths with state and federal priorities, private sector areas of growth, and opportunities for community-based engagement.
Next goal: Climate and CultureRationale
“For the Common Good,” the UMass Amherst 10-year strategic plan, emphasizes our critical role as a land-grant university and Carnegie Community Engaged Institution. The plan includes calls for increased engagement activity, with a focus on “More UMass in the community and more community at UMass.”
Currently, our Office of Government Relations works with the chancellor’s leadership team to ensure federal- and state-elected officials and government agencies understand the depth and breadth of our contributions as we fulfill our promise to the commonwealth through education, innovation, and engagement for the common good.
In support of “For the Common Good,” we will build on our efforts by expanding current areas of intersection between university strengths and state and federal government priorities while also cultivating emerging areas of interest. We will also work to ascertain opportunities for private sector and industry partnerships regionally, throughout the commonwealth, and nationally to support the campus’s economic development strategy.
Additionally, in support of the campus’s focus on regional gateway cities, UR has developed a separate strategic plan for the Henry M. Thomas III Center at Springfield, to expand our land-grant mission and advance the common good in the City of Springfield and its neighboring communities.
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Working with the vice chancellor for research and engagement, implement a new process for information sharing and strategic alignment of campus federal research priorities with faculty expertise.
- Share federal research trends and themes from Washington, DC, with schools and colleges to allow the campus to more competitively pursue research dollars, resulting in year-over-year increased research funding.
- Re-examine federal relations contracts, meet new priorities, and identify information sharing channels, resulting in year-over-year increased research dollars.
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The Henry M. Thomas III Center at Springfield:
- Increase the number of educational, cultural, and artistic events at the center.
- Expand 1) the number of community members using the center and 2) resources offered.
- Increase the number of faculty, students, and staff engaging with the Greater Springfield community in teaching, community-based research, creative activities, and experiential learning.
- Increase awareness of university programs and opportunities among high school students in the Greater Springfield area.
- Using newly developed 2025–2030 Gloucester Marine Station (GMS) Strategic Plan, track year-over-year expanded reach and recognition of the GMS.
- Develop tracking systems to measure year-over-year increase in statewide recognition of the Charles River Campus, the UMass Cranberry Station, and other extension sites.
- Track year-over-year foot traffic, event attendance, quantity of engagement with campus and community groups, and total sales in the downtown UMass Amherst space.
Goal 4
Climate and Culture
Foster a collaborative, inclusive UR work culture, where every voice is valued, and our varying perspectives and experiences inform and advance our campuswide commitment to building a community of dignity and respect for all.
Next goal: Share ValueRationale
To advance the mission of UMass Amherst and better meet the needs of the broader society we serve, we must cultivate a university community with varying backgrounds and different perspectives—one that promotes innovation, fosters critical thinking, and strengthens adaptability in all members of our campus community.
The role UR plays in telling the story of UMass Amherst’s inclusive excellence begins “at home”—within UR itself. This is why we believe it is imperative that we foster a collaborate, inclusive work culture where every member contributes toward—and experiences—our lived values for collaboration and mutual respect. This shared awareness and participation collectively informs our ability to authentically, and therefore successfully, tell the story of inclusive excellence at UMass Amherst.
By using the opportunities of our wide-ranging UR portfolio to consistently celebrate our diverse and exceptional community, we foundationally contribute to ensuring UMass Amherst is recognized as a university that welcomes and encourages people of varying backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.
Presenting the inclusive excellence of UMass Amherst is the bellwether of our work: It determines whether UR will successfully realize our vision and ensure the continued prominence of the university as a leading global research university dedicated to the common good.
- Monitor university front-facing communications infrastructure, including the UMass Amherst homepage, Office of News and Media Relations stories, and official university social media channels to ensure university values for DEI are advanced.
- Partner with the Office of Equity and Inclusion to conduct bi-annual DEI training as part of onboarding for new campus communicators and conclude training with a survey for participants assessing training and soliciting feedback.
- Provide communications, marketing, and event management support to increase awareness of campuswide DEI initiatives including, but not limited to, the Community, Democracy, and Dialogue (CDD) initiative, Accessibility Advisory Committee, Campus Climate Survey, Building Bridges project, and more.
- Expand admissions-focused marketing outreach to a significantly wider geographical span, including underrepresented markets, to promote the UMass commitment to accessible and high-value education in a learning community that embraces and fosters diverse thinking and opinions.