Public U Leaders Spotlight: Robin Kaler

Your Name: Robin Kaler
Your Title: Associate Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Marketing
Your Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Year You Started Your Current Role: 2005

What’s the most exciting work your APLU Council or Commission is currently undertaking?
Communications leaders can offer more informed, thoughtful counsel on difficult issues when they are in the conversation from the start. Having an APLU-recognized group validates the leadership role of CSC members, ensuring that messaging is a key component of decision-making.

Our CSC group is a true community of practice, where we learn from each other and support each other throughout the year. Peers recognize that value, which leads to membership growth. We have a networking initiative underway this winter to connect or reconnect with even more colleagues at APLU institutions, so they can leverage our community’s strength and strengthen our community.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing individuals in your role on campus?
The balance between free speech and providing a welcoming and safe environment is a challenge for every member of university leadership teams. Communications professionals are uniquely positioned to help their institutional leaders navigate the challenge through dialogue, listening, and exploring common ground.

What are the most important and valuable partnerships on campus for individuals in your role?
Strong and respectful relationships with the president or chancellor and her/his leadership team are essential, of course, but an often-forgotten partner is the administrative assistant for each of the leaders. At Illinois, my colleagues in support staff roles have identified issues, caught mistakes, shared timely information, and generally saved me more times than I can count. I collect their cell numbers and pester them at all hours when I’m on deadline.

What makes your university great?
When I ask people why they chose Illinois, they often say they came for a temporary reason (graduate school, a post-doc, etc.), but they’re still here 20 or 30 years later. They tell me about how they appreciate the collegiality of their colleagues, they love the community, and they are still excited to build on the body of scholarship and innovation produced here. I feel the same way.

What experience best prepared your current role?
Before I joined the university, I was a journalist. I conducted research, interviewed hundreds of people who had different perspectives, always worked on a tight deadline, wrote 22 newscasts a day, anchored eight of them, and covered everything from council meetings to shootings. The workload, the pace, and the public nature of the work all were great training for leading strategic communications and marketing.

What is your favorite way to spend your free time?
Running, reading, or laughing with my family and friends.

What was the last movie you saw in the theater?
Barbenheimer, I thought we all were required to do that.

What was the last concert you attended?
The Eagles, but I saw Bruce Springsteen twice last year, and I’m still dancing in the dark.