Student Affairs Communications Group Minutes
March 11, 2015
Attendance: Kami Hammerschmith, Brianna McNall, Kent Sumner, Majeed
Badizadegan, Wendy Little, Colleen Schlonga, Carolyn Boyd, Katie Figoni, Linda
Howard, Ruth Sterner, Sarah Norek, Bonnie Hemrick, John McQueen, Erin Martin,
Danté Holloway, Sophie Wilson, Robin Ryan
Next meeting of the Student Affairs Communications Group will be held spring term.
Dates and topics of the meetings will be announced.
Today
Carolyn welcomed everyone and introductions were done. The tables were set in
groups of 3-4.
This was the Student Affairs Communications Group Planning Meeting. There were four
agenda items
1) Branding exercise
Discussing the impact of the Division of Student Affairs on student success.
2) Reenvisioning the Student Affairs website
Telling the Student Affairs story through its website.
3) Building a student experience website
Presenting program information most effectively to students.
4) Communications planning for next academic year
Identifying areas of collaborative focus.
1) Branding exercise
Wendy asked everyone in attendance to answer two questions individually and then
discuss them with those at their table and answer question three as a group.
Questions to answer:
Please spend a few minutes to write brief responses to questions one and two on your
own before talking with your group.
1) How do you feel that the division as a whole impacts student success?
2) How does your own work or the work of your department impact student success?
After sharing your responses to the above questions with other members of your group,
please collectively decide on three to five words or phrases that you think best describe
the division and its impact.
Five groups shared the words/phrases they came up with.
2) Reenvisioning the Student Affairs website
In groups we looked at the Student Affairs homepage and the Blueprint for Academic
Success and Well-Being. Carolyn identified the audience for the Student Affairs
homepage as external, potential donors and faculty/staff. This is not necessarily a page
designed for a student audience.
Groups shared their suggestions for the homepage.
Changing the right-hand column to include student care, human justice and diversity,
experiential learning, fast facts/did you know and infographics from the annual report.
Feature stories should include how the above topics impact students.
It was mentioned that on a mobile device currently the right-hand menu moves to the
bottom. Carolyn mentioned the site is currently on Drupal 6, but needs to move to
Drupal 7.
It was suggested that the feature stories link to spotlight stories from various Student
Affairs departments. The right-hand column could feature the five Blueprint focus areas
with each subsection featuring data points and stories that support it. The suggestion
was that the Blueprint focus areas replace the current list in the right-hand column.
Currently there is an internal focus with the main menu. The site could have subnavigation at the top to make it less internal focused.
Content should include stories of people excelling in the Blueprint areas.
Utilize the Blueprint design elements (icons and categories) on the page.
The side bar could include What is Student Affairs?, How to get involved, Collaborations
and Donate to Student Affairs.
The departments and offices link at the top should drop down with links. A mission or
purpose statement for each department should enhance the list.
Use the Blueprint initiatives as a starting point. First-Year Experience might become
Community Building with First-Year Experience as a subset.
The site needs consistent language. Student support might be used instead of student
care.
Wendy picked a number between 1-100 and gave away some Dixon Recreation Center
Trial Trio cards for three free visits to Dixon. Winners must present their ID card with
the Trial Trio card.
3) Building a student experience website
The large group was broken into four smaller groups around the pathways Health &
Well-Being, Social Responsibility, Career Development & Self-Discovery and Global &
Intercultural Engagement. Carolyn shared lists of departments/programs that fit in
each pathway and a list of resources for groups to discuss. She asked us to look for
anything missing and to consider how these areas might be organized/structured on a
website. This site is in the very early stages of web design.
Career Development & Self-Discovery
The Career Development Center is looking to have links to each academic department.
Perhaps the site could filter by career field instead of by college. Under career field it
could include experiences of interest, departments to investigate, student
organizations, events that relate to field. It could work into a curricular map for
students to plan their involvement each year based on their career track or major of
interest. We could add a section on student experiences and/or alumni sharing stories
from the field. The site could align with the Career Trail topics, such as Know Yourself.
We need to have topics that students will relate to.
Health & Well-Being
Try to avoid links to specific programs within a department – link to the department
page, instead. If a program goes away there are lots of missing links to fix.
Global & Intercultural Engagement
List annual events, conferences, internships and areas to engage in Global &
Intercultural Engagement.
Social Responsibility
Look at how might a student find this information? Arizona State University has a site
that asks questions and then directs students. It could offer information on getting
involved based on themes.
4) Communications planning for next academic year
This is communication planning for the division. Carolyn asked groups to list events,
campaigns or learning themes to look at in the next year. What major areas of focus do
we want to support? Consider the timing. Consider partnering with other departments
in Student Affairs or across campus. Carolyn will share the list with SALT for feedback.
One group suggested focusing on the five areas in the Blueprint for Academic Success
and Well-Being. Ruth said she would like to see more faculty/staff attendance at
Convocation on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
It was asked if there is more that individual departments can do to support the It’s On
Us campaign, Healthy Campus Initiative and/or the flourishing/mental health initiative
events. Are there things that could be incorporated into student training in the fall
about these initiatives?