Building a Media Production Team at UT Tyler

When I joined The University of Texas at Tyler as Director of Media Production, the job was about more than making videos. The university was growing, its story was expanding, and the Marketing & Communications team needed a dependable way to support that growth through media.

My role was to help build that capability from the ground up.

At UT Tyler, I established the Media Production Department to support the university’s videography and production needs across a wide range of priorities. That meant creating a system, not just completing projects. We needed to produce strong creative work, but we also needed the structure, workflow, and team development that would allow that work to happen consistently.

Over time, I mentored a team of six video producers and oversaw more than 200 hours of media content. Our work supported everything from institutional storytelling to recruitment, livestream coverage, and immersive experiences like 360° virtual tours. That range was one of the things I enjoyed most about the role. In higher education, media is never just about promotion. It helps students imagine themselves on campus, helps families understand what makes a university distinct, and helps the institution communicate who it is and where it is going.

One of the best examples of that work was the university’s 360° campus tour content. Those projects helped translate the in-person campus experience into something prospective students and families could explore remotely. Instead of simply telling people about UT Tyler, we were able to show them the campus in a more immersive and useful way. That kind of storytelling had real strategic value, especially for admissions and recruitment.

The work also required balancing creativity with operations. It was not enough to have good ideas. We had to manage schedules, support live event coverage, coordinate people and resources, and maintain quality across many different kinds of deliverables. Building the department meant creating repeatable processes that could support both day-to-day requests and larger strategic initiatives.

That experience shaped how I think about leadership.

I believe creative leadership is not just about vision. It is about building the conditions where good work can happen again and again. It means developing people, clarifying expectations, improving workflows, and helping teams stay connected to the larger purpose behind the work. At UT Tyler, I had the chance to do that while supporting a university at an important stage of growth.

Looking back, I am proud not only of the videos we produced, but of the production function we built. The real accomplishment was creating a media department that could serve the university in a meaningful, sustainable way.

For me, that remains one of the clearest examples of the kind of work I most enjoy: building teams, improving systems, and creating story-driven media that helps organizations connect with people.