strategic communications

Lead With Clarity When It Matters Most

In moments of opportunity and uncertainty, how you communicate shapes how your institution is understood, trusted, and supported. Carnegie helps presidents and senior leaders lead with clarity, credibility, and purpose through strategic communications grounded in institutional truth and student impact.

Speak to a specialist

Our Approach

Carnegie integrates brand strategy, leadership counsel, and public relations best practices to help institutions communicate with intention. Whether navigating high-stakes challenges or elevating your institution’s voice nationally, we help you move forward with confidence and coherence. Our approach balances proactive narrative-building with readiness for complexity, ensuring your institution is prepared, aligned, and credible in any environment.

Strategies That Advance and
Protect Institutional Reputation

Executive Thought Leadership

We help presidents and senior leaders turn perspective into influence. Through coaching, content development, and strategic placement, we elevate leadership voices in ways that build credibility, shape public dialogue, and reinforce institutional vision with students, faculty, and external stakeholders.

Higher Education Media Relations

We secure meaningful coverage that advances institutional priorities and reinforces trust. By aligning media strategy with brand and leadership goals, we help colleges and universities amplify student success, faculty expertise, and impact in moments that matter most.

Crisis Communications & Issue Management

When challenges arise, clarity and empathy protect credibility. We help institutions prepare for, navigate, and recover from high-stakes situations through proactive planning, aligned messaging, and steady guidance that reinforces values and supports long-term institutional resilience.

Internal Communications

Strong institutions move forward together. We help leaders align faculty, staff, and students through clear, consistent communication that builds understanding, shared ownership, and momentum around institutional goals and student success.

How it Works

Start With What Matters Most

We start by understanding your mission, culture, leadership priorities, and pressures. Through discovery and stakeholder insight, we identify where communication can build trust, reduce risk, and support student-centered decision-making.

Craft Messages That Build Trust

We shape clear, aligned messaging frameworks that reflect institutional values and leadership voice. Every message is designed to resonate with key audiences while reinforcing credibility, clarity, and shared purpose.

Execute With Intention

From thought leadership and media engagement to internal communications and crisis readiness, we deploy communication strategies that support leaders in moments of opportunity, complexity, and change.

Communicate With Confidence

Our process combines deep higher education expertise, data-informed insight, and a human-centered approach to help institutions navigate change with confidence. As conditions shift, we maintain alignment, protect institutional reputation, and ensure communication continues to support long-term student and institutional success.

Ready to Get Started?

Contact Us

When we needed data to inform our strategic plan, Carnegie designed a highly customized project that helped answer our biggest questions at Rhodes College.

Smiling woman with gray hair in a black dress stands in front of a stone wall with green ivy.

Dr. Marjorie Hass Former President Rhodes College

A smiling woman in business attire talks with two men in suits outdoors.

On-Demand Video

Carnegie Conversations: Meeting the Moment

Higher education is facing unprecedented volatility, from financial pressures and political scrutiny to shifting student expectations and questions about the value of a degree. These challenges demand leadership that is clear, strategic, and resolute.

Learn More

Our Thoughts on Strategic
Communication in Higher Ed

Enrollment

Summer Research Series: Politics and College Perceptions

Read

Institutional Strategy

Crisis Communications in Higher Education: Strategies for Navigating Political Pressure

By Matt Gerien

Institutional Strategy

Why Higher Education Matters: Making the Case for Its Value

By Matt Gerien

Student Success

How Colleges Should Respond to FAFSA’s Lower Earnings Warning With a Strong Student Success and ROI Strategy

By Shankar Prasad

Aligned Strategy for What Comes Next

Strategic Planning

Transform big ideas into actionable strategies. We help you align mission, resources, and leadership to create adaptive plans built for impact.

Explore Strategic Planning

Leadership Development

Equip your leadership team to drive institutional transformation. From executive coaching to capacity building, we empower leaders at every level.

Explore Leadership Development

Market Research

Insight that drives smarter growth. Understand your audiences, competitive landscape, and opportunities through rigorous market research that blends data with higher ed expertise. The result: actionable insight that strengthens your strategy.

Explore Market Research

Brand Strategy

Define what makes your institution distinct. We uncover insights, positioning, and narratives that fuel a clear, compelling higher education branding strategy.

Explore Brand Strategy

Lead with Confidence

When your institution’s reputation, relationships, and future are on the line, clarity matters. Partner with Carnegie to build strategic communications that support leadership, protect trust, and keep students at the center of every conversation.

get in touch