Minutes of the Communication Committee
Ocean Avenue Campus, Room ArtsX 170 – March 30, 2009
Members Present: Tom Blair, Minna Huang, Joe Jah, Mamie How, Martha Lucey, Andrea
Niosi, Francine Podenski, Laurie Scolari
Members Absent: Kimberly Berger, Attila Gabor, Donald Lind, Athena Steff
Resource Persons Present: Beth Cataldo
Resource Persons Absent: Kristin Charles, A. Smiley Curtis, Tom Hetherington, David Yee
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes from March 3rd meeting were approved.
2. OLD BUSINESS
A. INTEGRATED MARKETING PLAN
A summary of work group findings for the Integrated District Marketing Plan was developed.
Marketing professor Marilyn Goodman prepared two paragraphs for possible inclusion in the
forthcoming Accreditation Mid-Term Report. Committee discussion ensued about the
language in the summary. Recommendations include changing “more targeted and effective
publications” to “more targeted and effective media.” It was agreed that the word
publications brings to mind print formats whereas the term media encompasses both print and
online formats. The language used should reference the web, which will undoubtedly be a
broad and inexpensive platform to promote the college. Furthermore, emerging technologies
continue to surface providing additional marketing opportunities. Terminology in the
marketing plan needs to be broad so the plan can act as a guide to inform decision making for
the long term. Other edits include adding the words web and emerging technologies to the
list of marketing avenues for international recruitment in the second paragraph. Lastly, it was
recommended that the acronyms AAIEP and AACC be spelled out. Martha Lucey will take
these recommendations back to the work group.
B. WEB PROJECT UPDATE
Beth Cataldo reported the web redesign and migration is on schedule. Students from Graphic
Communication are working with the templates and will be available to assist departments
with the migration of current sites. The next training will begin the week of May 4th. It is
projected that a beta site with a few main segments (Student Services, Faculty, About CCSF)
will launch June 30th. Cataldo also informed the committee that student email accounts are
coming; the email accounts will be powered by Gmail but have the @ccsf.edu extension.
Committee members inquired about the CCSF calendar component. Cataldo will discuss the
progress of the calendar with EMG and report back.
C. CCSF ONLINE SHOPPING UPDATE
Francine Podenski reported the CCSF online shopping issue was discussed at the College
Advisory Council (CAC). Members of the council were unhappy that the site was launched
without a discussion. Currently, auditors are looking into “the stream of money.” Concerns
raised focus on tracking the money not the branding issue brought forth by this committee.
Communication committee members had previously raised concerns about 1) the process of
selecting images for CCSF products and 2) the URL of the shopping site. The current URL
(http://www.frecklesgraphics.com/san_francisco/gear.html) has no CCSF branding.
A second issue related to CCSF T-shirts and decision making was brought up at the CAC. It
was unknown who made the decision to place a free t-shirt with the angry ram on each
graduates’ chair during the college graduation ceremony. Though the Ram may be
appropriate for graduates who are interested in sports, it may not be fitting for others. This
situation again brings to light that a need exists for either an office or committee to oversee
the CCSF brand.
3.
NEW BUSINESS
A. CCSF DIGITAL SCREENS – PROGRAM FORMAT AND INSTALLATION
Podenski reported about a contract signed by the district on September 8, 2008 with a
company that installs free large digital flat screens to college campuses at no charge to the
college. The digital screens are compatible for use as a district wide emergency alert system
and can also be programmed with information of interest to all students, faculty and staff. It is
important to note that the contract to install digital screens at various locations throughout the
San Francisco Community College District was signed by district representatives prior to
proposing the idea through shared governance. The Communications Committee, having
only recently learned about the screen, would have been the appropriate committee to initially
consider the proposal for digital screens and to then make recommendations to the College
Advisory Council where a final decision would have been made prior to signing the contract.
The company provides digital screens ranging in size from 37 inches to 101 inches. Program
content on the screens includes Reuter’s News text scrolling along the bottom o f the screen
and advertising in the upper right of the screen. City College of San Francisco has right of
refusal on all proposed advertisements. Each college is responsible for programming the
content that appears in the remaining screen area. Broadcast Media Services has scheduled
the installation of a test screen and will experiment with sending program content to the test
screen. After the demo screen is fully programmed, the college community will be invited to
review the programming and advertisements and present feedback and input and suggest
recommendations regarding additional screen installations in various district locations. The
Communications committee will consider all campus community input and reflect that input
in committee recommendations for the next steps to College Advisory Council.
The issue of advertising on campus is a major issue. Committee members were not happy to
hear that a contract exists that will bring more advertising to campus without having gone
through the shared governance process. A student representative on the committee reported
that the Ocean campus Associated Students was initially involved with the digital screen
project and then later discontinued involvement because of concerns about allowing
advertising on campus. Committee members agree that resources should not be spent on these
screens. Money would be better spent on EATV which hasn’t enough resources and reaches a
far greater number of viewers. Committee members directed the committee chair to inform
the College Advisory Council at their next meeting (April 2, 2009) that any there are serious
concerns about allowing advertising of any sort on City College of San Francisco campuses.
B. K-12 OUTREACH PROJECT
Laurie Scolari reported on a two new video project funded by SFUSD’s Gear Up Program,
CCSF’s Outreach and Recruitment Office and in consultation with the Publicity Office and
Broadcast Electronic Media Arts department. “The Ambassador Diaries” and “CCSF Student
Support Services Video Tour” will be video podcasts (vodcasts) available through iTunes U.
The goal of the Ambassador Diaries is to use current students and their stories to connect
with potential students to help them realize the community college pathway. The CCSF
Student Support Services Video Tour provides an overview of services available to students
when they arrive at college. Vodcasts will be available in the fall on iTunes. Committee
members agree these projects are a great way to promote City College and potential exists for
future uses in different languages.