CER now UMC: Evolving marketing & communications to achieve WFU’s strategic ambitions

Over the summer, Wake Forest’s Office of Communications and External Relations (CER) was renamed the Office of University Marketing and Communications (UMC). UMC will function as an administrative unit distinct from University Advancement.

This is the most recent change to better position marketing and communications as mission-critical university functions. In July 2023, President Wente elevated the marketing and communications leadership role to a Cabinet-level function. Soon after, she initiated a strategic review to assess and evaluate CER’s ability to support the University’s strategic ambitions.

The assessment identified many strengths and also the need for CER to continue to evolve. Specifically, for marketing and communications to support the thematic goals and aims identified in Framing Our Future, the University must clarify university-wide communication and marketing priorities, strengthen its ecosystem of collaboration, and address capacity challenges.

In March, Vice President of Communications and Chief Communications Officer Brett Eaton established an Executive Marketing Council (XMC) to advise University-wide communications strategy and to support the efforts of Wake Forest schools and administrative units to achieve their marketing goals. The XMC contributed to a University-wide marketing and communications plan that articulates principles, objectives and evaluation practices.

“Renaming and restructuring CER to University Marketing and Communication helps clarify what we do and who we support,” Eaton said. “Contributing to University Advancement efforts to generate philanthropic support remains a priority, but advancing the goals of the Strategic Framework requires us to think differently about how we meet the range of marketing and communication needs of a comprehensive university like Wake Forest.”