Student Affairs Communications Group Minutes
July 24, 2013
Attendance: Kami Hammerschmith, Kent Sumner, Nancy Raskauskas, Jennifer
Gossett, Jen Busick Stewart, Megan Full, Natalie Moser, Don Boucher, Colleen
Schlonga, Ruth Sterner, Wendy Little, Neha Neelwarne, Jennifer Viña
Next meeting of the Student Affairs Communications Group will be Wednesday,
August 14, 2013, 9 a.m. -10:30 a.m., MU Council Room. Topic: Common request
forms, inventory/log of promotion spaces, & check-in on SA Communications
Position Work Group. Please share systems and tools you are using, so we can look
at how we can become more consistent and standardized in the forms and systems
we are using.
Today
Coffee and pastries were enjoyed as we said goodbye to four of our members:
Megan Full – last day is July 31 – leaving to be a stay-at-home mom and then apply
to nursing school in the winter. Her second child, a girl, is due in October.
Jen Busick-Stewart – last day is Oct. 7 – moving to Virginia, because her husband got
a job at Virginia Tech and starts in January.
Jennifer Gossett – last day is July 26 – took a new job at Linfield College in
McMinnville, OR where she will be serving as a coordinator in the Learning Support
Services department.
Chris Gates – leaving to return to Pittsburgh
Our agenda today is marketing plans. There is no formal agenda. It was first asked
how many actually have one? Departments have varying degrees of plans and some
said there plan wasn’t updated. Some said they had a detailed plan for their
marketing, but it did not include the strategic piece.
Wendy shared Recreational Sports draft Outreach Annual Plan for FY 14. She will
share it electronically once it is updated. Each program area submitted areas for
marketing and outreach. Programs could list areas to establish and areas to abolish.
The plan also identifies who is responsible.
Nancy asked about assessment. She said some programs they really want to assess
and others are not tracked as well. Some they track just for effectiveness.
Kent said he created a marketing cost list to share with the MU program areas.
Nancy mentioned people want video, but they don’t see the cost involved – time to
shoot and edit. They see it as something that goes online, so it must be free.
Jen Busick-Stewart said she has the name of a student who is interested in working
for a department on a video. Wendy said she’d like his name.
Kent suggested that we invite some NMC professors to talk to the group in the fall
about practicum credit availability and how to get the word out to students if we are
looking for someone to create a video, etc.
Neha said she has created a brand plan for Be Well, Be Orange. It is focused on firstyear students. She included a vision, SWOT analysis and three issues to work on
through planning. She also developed an effort/impact matrix. She said they didn’t
know if they would have the personnel to complete the full plan this year.
Jennifer Gossett said DAS is moving to Drupal 7 on the Liberal Arts theme.
Don said Student Media is working through the changes in media. The department is
working on a brand before creating a marketing plan.
Ruth in New Student Programs and Family Outreach said the new Integral Facebook
app is active. Most discussions center around roommates, housing and books. There
was an entrepreneurial student who was trying to raise money for her tuition on it,
but Ruth had to take down the post.
Committee members said the START information fair has been better attended this
year than last.
Jennifer Viña asked if students are coming to campus more prepared since they have
more information available to them through Facebook and other social media. Ruth
said she wasn’t sure, but she saw them still focusing on the baseline needs, so
holistically they are probably not more informed.
It was mentioned that it would be good for us to share some of our marketing goals,
so we can collaborate along goals and messaging across departments.
As the First Year Experience (FYE) gets developed there will be a communication
plan as an outcome. The group said it would be great to have it shared with us, so
we can tie it into our marketing plans.
FYE is important to all of us. We need to make it an experience and not a rule. It is a
benefit to students and their transition to college.
Student Health Services will have a first floor satellite clinic in the new residence
hall that will open in Fall 2014. The co-op houses will close that year.
Ruth said once the FYE is finished, the University will be looking at the sophomore
year experience.
Career Services has an updated poster distribution list and campus advising office
list. Jen Busick-Stewart will send them to the group listserv.
A meeting occurred around the new Student Affairs Communication Director
position. Kent and Wendy are meeting with Steve and Melody later today about
their expectations for the position since it has shared funding from Student Affairs
and University Relations and Marketing. The sub-committee wrote a draft position
description that is more strategic and less communication driven. Wendy shared the
draft position description.