Rowan is currently looking for a candidate to be their first-ever chief marketing officer.

The goal is to have the position filled by December or early spring. This is an inaugural role for Rowan. This position will be in charge of all of Rowan’s marketing and communication outreach for the university.

In a higher education setting, CMOs help institutions stay competitive and attract potential students, and colleges are having these positions filled to help them branch out more. To manage a university’s brand and implement institutional marketing strategies.

This role will support Rowan’s online education programs and have opportunities for students solely seeking an online education. The role will also support the university as it ascends to an R1 status to show awareness of Rowan’s online education opportunities and capitalize on all the momentum the university has gained over recent years. 

Colleges such as Purdue University and Florida A&M University have implemented CMO positions in their institutions in the past two months. These marketing professionals are in charge of making new marketing strategies and overseeing their execution of them. 

R.J. Tallarida is the chief of staff and a co-chair for the search committee for the chief marketing officer position. 

“We believe that this role will be critical for Rowan’s goal to become an R1 institution and a national online education provider,” Tallarida said.

According to Bill Freind, an English Professor and the co-chair of the search committee for the chief marketing officer, this role will be more important as time goes on.

“In the next couple of years, we are going to see a small pool of 18-25-year-olds for colleges competing heavily for them due to the demographic cliff, so we are going to need someone to lead those efforts. There are colleges that are struggling but thankfully Rowan has great strong leaders to where we don’t run into any major problems,” said Freind.

Students, particularly those in the Rohrer College of Business, agree with the move to adopt the position and hire a trained professional in the hopes of helping propel Rowan’s status and growth.

Alexander Shute, a sophomore Business-Finance major believes that it would be in Rowan’s best interest to acquire a Chief Marketing Officer.

“Marketing teams and marketing officers to head those teams to best advertise their product [are needed]. In this case, Rowan’s product is education, and when you are trying to bring in the best students to educate, it’s in the best interest of the university to have the best appearance possible. Not only to have talented current students but also talented future alumni who can then take the name of the university and become high-level individuals. Me personally, it’s in my best interest that this happens as well because that would expand my network of high-end people who either have attended Rowan University, or my degree would become more prestigious because other high-end people have also graduated from Rowan. In order to make all of this possible, you need a chief marketing officer to communicate with the president so that the university can have the best image,” said Shute.

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