Graduate Assistant - Communications

Position Summary: The Graduate Assistant (GA) for the Community News Lab supports the growth and day-to-day operations of the lab through editorial leadership, community engagement, partnership coordination, and audience development. This position plays a key role in advancing the lab’s mission to produce meaningful community-centered journalism while strengthening collaborations among students, faculty, media partners, and community organizations.

Primary Responsibilities

Editorial Support & Story Development

• Assist in overseeing story development by helping generate, refine, and track story ideas aligned with the mission of the Community News Lab.
• Work with student journalists on pitching, developing, and advancing multimedia reporting projects.
• Provide editorial support through content review, feedback, and copyediting to help prepare stories for publication.
• Support quality control and editorial workflows for written, audio, video, and digital content.

Media Partnership Liaison

• Serve as a liaison between the Community News Lab and media partners, particularly BCTV and The Alvernian.
• Coordinate processes for placing student-produced content on BCTV.org, The Alvernian, and other partner platforms.
• Help maintain communication with partners regarding story opportunities, publishing timelines, and collaborative initiatives.
• Support development of expanded media partnerships and cross-platform content opportunities.

Community Partnerships & Engagement

• Assist with cultivating and maintaining relationships with community partners, especially organizations in the arts and culture sector.
• Help communicate with community partners to identify story opportunities, collaborative projects, and engagement initiatives.
• Support partnerships with nonprofits, local organizations, media outlets, and university departments that advance the lab’s mission.
• Represent the Community News Lab, as appropriate, at community events, public programs, and partnership meetings.

Professional Development & Field Engagement

• May have opportunities to attend community events, journalism workshops, conferences, and professional development programs related to reporting, engagement, and media innovation.
• Support bringing insights from these experiences back to strengthen student learning and lab initiatives.

Promotion, Social Media & Strategic Initiatives

• Assist with promoting the Community News Lab through social media, newsletters, events, and outreach.
• Help build and strengthen the Community News Lab’s social media presence across digital platforms.
• Support the sharing and amplification of student journalism by helping feature student-produced stories, multimedia work, and reporting projects on CNL social channels and partner platforms.
• Contribute ideas for growing audience engagement and showcasing the impact of student work to campus and community audiences.
• Assist with content planning and promotional strategies that elevate the lab’s visibility and support its long-term growth.
• Support additional initiatives related to university-community collaborations, special projects, and emerging opportunities.

Program Support & Administration

• Assist with organizing meetings, maintaining editorial calendars, and supporting lab operations.
• Help track project progress, partnerships, and outcomes.
• Support additional projects and emerging priorities related to the strategic development of the Community News Lab.

Preferred Qualifications

• Graduate student in Communication, Journalism, Digital Media, Public Relations, or related field.
• Strong writing, editing, organizational, and digital communication skills.
• Interest in community journalism, audience engagement, arts and culture reporting, and partnership building.
• Experience with multimedia storytelling, digital publishing, or social media content creation preferred.
• Ability to work collaboratively with students, faculty, community partners, and media organizations.