Spin doctors can rejoice. Robert Steiner, U of T’s new associate vice-president strategic communications, is looking to hire three new directors at the university’s re-branded strategic communications unit-formerly the department of public affairs.
The job description? Help U of T to better communicate to students and recast its image into that of a “student-centered research university.” The trio’s efforts, Steiner said, would begin to bridge the U of T’s perceived communications gap with its core demographic.
“The university would start to articulate on some values and deliver on these values, such as creating more co-curricular activities, creating more opportunities for smaller communities for students, curriculum reform,” he said.
“We would have this stuff going on, but not be communicating it well to the people that are the centre of it all,” namely the students. Steiner explained that much of this policy has been in place for a few years, and is enshrined in Stepping Up, the university’s academic plan.
“There’s a general culture shift, I think, not just from the administration, but from a whole new generation of deans and department chairs towards focusing on making sure that the student experience here is as great as the research achievements,” Steiner said.
“That means we not only have to continue to help raise the research profile of U of T, but also raise the profile of U of T as a student-centered research university, and assist in a culture shift at U of T toward the student experience.”
“And then you have to figure out what communications tools you want to build so that you can hear from those students on a regular basis, and speak to those students in a way that’s meaningful,” Steiner said.
“I don’t know exactly what those are, but that’s why I’m hiring people that are smarter than me to do it,” he deadpanned.
Steiner is one of a clutch of recent university appointments who come with stints in senior jobs in industry, business, and politics. Among them, former Ontario premier David Peterson, who took over as chancellor of the university from Vivienne Poy this month; vice president university relations Judith Wolfson, formerly CEO of Interac Association/Acxsys Corporation; and Dr. Tim McTiernan, a former assistant deputy minister at the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation.
A self-styled “U of T brat,” (his father is a researcher in the department of medicine), Steiner worked at the Wall Street Journal from 1991 until 1997. After a business degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he spent a year in management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Through a BCG connection, Steiner soon found himself in the federal Liberals’ “war room,” managing their new media campaign during the 2000 general election. And after about two years as a vice president at Bell Globe Media, he returned part-time to politics in 2002, writing health-care policy speeches for Paul Martin’s leadership campaign. He then served as Paul Martin’s speech writer for seven months, until December 2003.
Despite Steiner’s many hats, psychologically he remains a journalist, he said, because the profession teaches you to see five or six sides to an issue, and then “build bridges over the tensions.”
“Seeing issues as having two sides over-simplifies almost any issue,” he commented. “It’s much more of a political perspective, and frankly I think it’s bullshit.
“It’s one of the reasons I don’t like politics,” pausing briefly, “a lot.”
Steiner certainly seems to retain a journalist’s work schedule. As The Varsity happened past at 10 p.m. last Monday, his corner office in the Robert S. Prichard Alumni House was still lit up, with Steiner seated at his desk clearly visible through curtain-less windows. Three front-page clippings from the Wall Street Journal hung prominently above it — the first, second, and last page one stories he had while at the paper, he later related, before returning to the point.
“U of T is moving in a direction where I think we’re re-embracing the roots of this place — around smaller, more intimate communities — without losing the advantages of scale that no university in this country has.”
“Either we have a lot of it already,” Steiner continued, pointing out “learning communities” set up at Trinity and Victoria College as but two examples. “Or, in a lot of places, that’s the direction that we’re going.”
