Communications Intern

About Research Park

The Research Park at the University of Illinois is a leading innovation hub for technology commercialization with a unique environment that cultivates startups and increases capabilities for established companies. The mixed-use composition promotes creative collisions and interdisciplinary collaborations, strengthening the bridge between campus and community.

The internal team at Research Park includes a small team of interns that manage communication, marketing, promotion, event planning, recruitment, and more for the Research Park as a University unit and as a whole.

About the Role

Do you love to write and pride yourself on being creative and good with words? Are you interested in web design? Do you enjoy working with different types of people? Do you thrive in a fast-paced, team-oriented atmosphere? The Communications Intern will be part of the University of Illinois Research Park and EnterpriseWorks team to highlight the exciting things happening at the Research Park.

The Communications Intern will demonstrate their excellent written and verbal communication skills by writing news stories, updating the UIRP website, crafting social media posts, working with graphic designers on promotional materials, and more. They will collaborate and coordinate with Research Park leadership and the EnterpriseWorks intern team to ensure timely marketing/branding and promotions of jobs, events, and news through appropriate platforms. An intern will be able to propose new and innovative ways to increase Research Park’s brand awareness in the community and campus and manage ongoing communications projects such as weekly announcements and monthly student newsletters. In addition, the intern will ensure that information on the Research Park website, calendars, and all social media platforms are up to date and correct.

Upon successful performance reviews, this internship can continue through multiple semesters.

Requirements

• Must be a full-time enrolled student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the time of employment
• Graduation date of December 2026 or later
• Ability to start training in August 2025 (5-7 hours per week)
• This role has the potential to continue in Spring 2026 (10-15 hours per week) Must be available to begin training immediately after winter break working 5-7 hours/week and during Summer 2026 working up to 40 hours/week.
• Applicants must be available to work full-time hours on-site throughout summer 2026 (37.5 hours per week)

Qualifications

• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to tell a great story in multiple formats and lengths (e.g. photos, video clips, and words)
• Understanding of internet and social media marketing best practices
• Understanding of web design and website hosting platforms such as WordPress
• Experience in multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn
• Excellent proofreading and editing skills; strong attention to detail
• Good project management and time management skills/work within structure
• Ability to work in fast-paced environments and balance multiple projects

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Webtools, Canva, Planable and AirTable
• Practical writing experience outside of the classroom
• Seeking at least one candidate who is familiar with agriculture to adequately communicate the advances in AgTech being produced by many of the companies at Research Park. If applicable, please provide the extent of knowledge you have in this field in either your cover letter or resume.

Responsibilities

• Write and edit news stories highlighting the tenants and events at the Research Park and EnterpriseWorks 
• Updating the Research Park website and designing new page layouts
• Create social media (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) content highlighting events, jobs, news and companies at Research Park/EnterpriseWorks
• Align communications strategies with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Research Park branding standards
• Maintain best practices documentation to ensure continued high quality marketing and communications 
• Stay up-to-date on what is going on in the Research Park/Illinois Innovation ecosystem
• Create content for ongoing communications projects such as the EnterpriseWorks Express, announcements emails and student newsletters 
• Update content on the Research Park website and calendars 
• Maintain clear communications with management on project status 
• Support the internal team at events and on-campus engagement activities

To apply, please use this link: https://go.illinois.edu/RPCommunciationsSocialMedia. Please reach out to bdgoode@illinois.edu with any questions.