Kim Manning was appointed vice president for university relations at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in 2004. Reporting directly to the president, she is responsible for the university’s internal and external communications and is a member of the Administrative Council and the President’s Cabinet. Manning oversees the Department of University Relations, which includes executive communications, media relations, publications, photography, web site development, trademark licensing, Rutgers Magazine, campus information services, the RU-tv campus cable network, community affairs, marketing and brand management, strategic communications, and the faculty-staff enewsletter, Rutgers Focus. She is the first African American to hold the senior communications post at Rutgers.
New projects undertaken under her direction include a major analysis of public perceptions of the university and its brand. The effort began with the constituency research project, the most extensive survey of key New Jersey stakeholders ever undertaken by the university. Research findings led to the development of a comprehensive communications program designed to clarify the Rutgers brand and to more effectively convey the university’s strengths. As part of this program, Rutgers launched a new visual identity system, which was approved for use as a policy directive of the Board of Governors in December 2006. The university branding program is ongoing and also includes the “Jersey Roots, Global Reach” promotional campaign (see: http://www.rutgers.edu/jerseyroots/).
Other projects launched under Manning’s leadership include the New Faculty Traveling Seminar, which connects Rutgers and its newest faculty members with the state and its people during an annual five-day tour, and the establishment of the Rutgers Speakers Bureau. The Department of University Relations has won numerous awards for its publications, websites, public relations, and outreach programs, and received widespread accolades for the university’s management of the 2007 controversy stemming from disparaging remarks made by radio personality Don Imus about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.
Manning rose through the ranks at Rutgers, first joining the university’s Office of Television and Radio as a producer/director in 1985. She became director of that office in 1992, overseeing production, development, and the distribution of award-winning programming.
Between 1996 and 1998, she was a key member of the project management team for RUNet 2000 and was instrumental in the planning of this $98 million data, video, and voice network installation project, believed at the time to be the largest telecommunications project undertaken at an American university. She then took the lead for development of the video network component of the project, which led to the creation of the RU-tv campus cable network. RU-tv currently provides programming to approximately 15,000 residential students on the New Brunswick Campus. It features more than 65 channels, including six channels of internally produced content.
For two years until 2001, she managed the merger of television and radio with the publications office and launched the annual Rutgers Academic Challenge, a competition for New Jersey’s top high school students. In 2001, she became executive director for university relations, serving initially in an acting capacity.
Manning also worked for the CBS Television Network in New York as regional manager in the affiliate relations division and for WPXI-TV, an NBC affiliate in her native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
While working at Rutgers, she earned an MBA in marketing management in 1989 from the Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
Manning has served as a member and vice chair of the Communications and Marketing Commission of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She also served on the board of the Association of Higher Education Cable Television Administrators. Manning is currently a member of the board of directors of the Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce and also serves on a number of planning and advisory committees. She is a resident of Metuchen, New Jersey, and has two sons, Phillip and Aaron.
The Department of University Relations includes the following areas:
- Strategic Communications oversees university marketing and advertising, identifies marketing opportunities, recommends and supports market research activities, and serves as a resource to communications and marketing professionals throughout the university. The office also provides strategic communications advice, coordination, and materials for high-profile university initiatives and issues.
- Community Affairs manages the Rutgers Speakers Bureau; plans and executes the New Faculty Traveling Seminar, a presidential initiative to introduce new faculty members to the people, places, and perspectives that shape the state; coordinates Huddle with the Faculty: Gameday Seminars, a series of one-hour lectures presented by leading faculty scholars before selected home football games; manages requests from commercial production companies and independent producers to film, videotape, or photograph campus locations; and administers the annual New Jersey State Employees Charitable Campaign at Rutgers.
- Media Relations handles external communications and serves as the official source of information on behalf of the university. In addition to promoting the academic, scientific, and scholarly achievements of the university, its faculty, and students to broad audiences across the state, region, and world, Media Relations publishes Rutgers Focus,the biweekly online enewsletter for faculty and staff, and Research Highlights, compilations of information for the public on recent research advances at Rutgers.
- Executive Communications Supportprovides public remarks and additional writing support to the president, senior administrators, and members of the governing boards.
- Creative Services produces marketing, promotional, recruitment, fundraising, and informational/instructional communications for a wide range of university clients.
Creative Services is a resource for internal university departments and divisions for planning, developing, and producing brochures, conference materials, convocation materials, websites, and computer-based presentations. This office also publishes Rutgers Magazine. - Photographic Services is responsible for all still images used in publications, websites, multimedia presentations, displays, and external media, including location and studio photography. This area maintains an archive of thousands of university-related images often requested for reproduction by external print and online media.
- Campus Information Services is a resource for students and the general public. It manages RU-info, the information and referral gateway to Rutgers; the RU-tv network, a 65-channel network cable system; the Off-Campus Housing Service, a resource for students and staff; and various informational services for students and visitors to the university, including historic tours and campus maps. RU-tv also coordinates a popular living-learning community program for students interested in broadcasting.
- Trademark Licensing regulates the use of the university’s name and identifying marks, and provides guidance to the university community regarding the use of the university’s trademarks. This office also assists university departments, student organizations, and other units in purchasing appropriate and affordable promotional and other imprinted items.
