Events & Engagement Specialist

Rice University•Houston, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Rice School of Architecture seeks a highly organized, proactive, and collaborative Events & Engagement Specialist. This position serves as the operational cornerstone for all school events, including public programs, community activities, internal events, and related announcements that keep our university community informed and engaged. The school prides itself in a wide array of events that produce innovative, engaging content and are executed with the highest standards of excellence in terms of production, promotion, aesthetic standards, and public participation. The Events and Engagement Specialist focuses on events planning and execution, as well as engagement, participation, and analytics. They oversee the end-to-end planning, logistics, and technical execution of all public-facing events, as well as a portfolio of internal school activities, including events such as faculty and staff meetings, reviews, workshops, symposia, and retreats. They oversee external vendors, track spending and process invoices. The "Engagement" aspect of this role drives event participation, marketing/promotion, publicity, and post-event analytics. They produce internal and external high-quality written updates and weekly emails and announcements for the school and university community. They serve as a liaison to other events specialists across campus and in the wider Houston community to drive event collaboration, promotion, and participation. Working in collaboration with our communications team, the Specialist acts to systematically collect and share accomplishments (such as awards, creative projects, and publications) while authoring regular, high-quality written updates and announcements for an internal audience. Reporting to the Director of Communications, this role works closely with the school’s communications team and other staff and faculty members–as well as internal and external vendors and other specialists–to produce events of the highest quality. Operating autonomously and with delegated authority in a fast-paced, creative environment, the ideal candidate possesses a refined aesthetic sensibility, strong technical troubleshooting curiosity, exceptional hospitality skills, and the diplomacy required to work across formal and informal university channels. The Rice School of Architecture is a uniquely sized, top-ranked program with a focus on design excellence, including exceptional student work, world-class faculty research, and meaningful community engagement. The school draws upon Houston’s diverse offerings in the arts, culture, and industry, to educate architects for a dynamic, interconnected world, and we work towards hiring with the same ambition.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree.
Three or more (3+) years of professional experience in event management, project coordination, or hospitality/operations.
Superior event production skills with the ability to lead a diverse team of staff, faculty, students, and vendors under tight deadlines.
Competence in setting up, operating, and troubleshooting a variety of audio, visual, and multimedia equipment (microphones, projectors, digital monitors, speakers, and shared digital calendar platforms).
Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills; ability to synthesize information into clear, engaging internal announcements and updates.
Strong customer service, diplomacy, and tact; ability to build trust and collaborate seamlessly with faculty, staff, leadership, and external partners.
Extreme attention to detail, strong analytical and strategic decision-making capabilities, and the capacity to balance multiple complex workflows simultaneously.

Nice To Haves

Experience working within the fields of architecture, art, higher education, or a similarly design-focused cultural sector is a significant plus.

Responsibilities

Serves as the primary project manager for multi-faceted school events, lectures, conferences, and exhibitions; maps out project timelines, monitors milestones, and ensures execution meets standards of design excellence.
Supports the school Events Committee by coordinating meetings, preparing and distributing agendas, recording meeting minutes, and maintaining documentation of committee work.
Plans, coordinates logistics, and facilitates school-wide, faculty, and staff meetings, seminars, workshops, and retreats.
Designs and executes registration strategies, guest accommodations, ticketing workflows, and catering needs.
Acts as the account manager for event deliverables, handles vendor contracts and catering purchases, processes event-related expenses, and collaborates cross-departmentally to manage program budgets.
Installs, sets up, operates, and monitors technical equipment for events and meetings.
Diagnoses and solves system configuration issues, maintains equipment inventory, and recommends external specialty A/V vendors when necessary.
Drafts, edits, and distributes regular written updates, print material, newsletters, and policy/event announcements to optimize clarity and alignment among faculty, staff, and students.
Represents the School of Architecture at university-wide events and operations meetings to cultivate internal institutional relationships.
Provides direct technical guidance and A/V orientation to faculty, staff, and students using the school's presentation spaces.
May hire, train, and supervise student workers and volunteers.
Coordinates closely with faculty members, students, and staff to systematically collect, track, and serve as the centralized repository for academic and professional milestones (awards, grants, publications, and creative work).
Performs all other duties as assigned to support the evolving operational and engagement goals of the school.