Ross Struss

Background

About Ross Struss

Marketing for higher education is a crazy ever-changing landscape. Budgets change year to year. People, administrations and opinions change the input that guides what you do. However, one thing has to always be consistent and it drives everything.the brand. And I love it. Currently, I am the Communications Coordinator for Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska. This also happens to be my alma mater. My job entails a great many things. I help build and maintain the Hastings College institutional website I work with all of the entities/offices/departments across campus that include Alumni/Foundation, Financial Aid, Admissions, etc. to help create and distribute external messaging to alumni, parents and prospective students. More recently, I have helped build new databases for our Admissions and Alumni/Foundation offices utilizing the Slate platform created by Technolutions. Finally, I help with the broadcasting and recording of various campus events, working with other marketing staff as well as students. Marketing was not my major. I graduated with a degree in Broadcasting in 2013 but my first job out of college was working for the Nebraska State Fair as their Marketing Assistant. Learning the ropes from a career marketer, I found a passion for something I never even considered as a career. After nearly three years I had an opportunity to come back to Hastings College and while higher education is not a fair, the experiences and learnings were highly relevant and translated to my current position. Success in the workplace is only part of the equation though. My wife Melissa, who also works in marketing, and our son Jeremy as well as our friends and families mean the world to me. On the average night we are catching up on TV shows, watching movies or hanging out with our friends and kids. Reading books, playing Dungeons and Dragons, keeping up with what is going on in the world and video games are just a few of the things that keep me entertained and allow me to relax. And yes we do even occasionally talk about marketing at home.