Posts from — April 2010

There are a few people in our lives that make a lasting impression.  Benny Suggs is one of those who made a lasting impression on my life.  Benny was an admiral in the U.S. Navy when we first met and he and his office helped me organize an event for Harley-Davidson at the Navy base in San Diego.

Benny is a devoted Harley rider and I knew he was also a loyal member of the Wolfpack less than five minutes after we met. Somehow the conversation just made it’s way to NC State way back when.

Benny left the Navy shortly after we met and he joined Harley-Davidson where I was working.  We had some great years together, working  on the growth and expansion of Harley-Davidson University — his first job in higher education:-) — and on a couple of projects that are burned into my consciousness.  When you meet him just ask about the work we did for the Navy Seals or the ride to New York City with a number of Harley-Davidson Police and Firefighter Motorcycles the week after 911.  The images will never go away.

So you’ll understand when I shout out that I’m proud to welcome Benny Suggs back to North Carolina and back to NC State as the Executive Director of the NC State Alumni Association.  Hold on folks.  It’s gonna be an amazing ride! [Read more →]

I’ve written about this before, but wanted to share the updated presentation I made to the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) last week in Savannah.  Had a great group of about 60 people from as far away as Australia and Bermuda.  Great discussions followed.  More to come.  CASEFutureComm

Trends that affect us all

•Accountability to our various publics

•Challenge from the competition

•The rise of a new breed of Chancellor

•Changing role of communications

Accountability

•With increased competition for funding and the need to justify our contribution or value to all of our stakeholders; communications will have to lead message development and delivery

–Different messages for different groups

•Parents, students, civic leaders, business leaders, etc.

•How does giving help?

[Read more →]

The artists of the future will make up new things and different nomenclatures and they’ll stand amongst their pictures and they’ll sing and laugh and quote from scriptures and when they go home they’ll dream of brilliant paintings.

Crash Test Dummies

Can you say “duh” with me.  I know, I know.  It’s not fair to be critical when someone else is doing the work, but CASE ought to do better than this when they are dispensing advice on social media.

Of course planning is critical.  Planning is critical to the success of any communications campaign.  Print, broadcast, Web, invisible ink.  You’ve got to plan.  Use the classic RACE Formula; Research, Action (planning), Communicate (do the communicating) and Evaluate.  Or R-PIE; Research, Plan, Implement, Evaluate.

I’m not going to lecture any more so here’s the lowdown from CASE regarding social media:

Social media is all the rage but leading experts at a recent CASE conference say communications professionals must address five key questions before they start tweeting, blogging and posting content on behalf of their institutions. [Read more →]

Our News Services Group has been hard at work tweaking the Bulletin and our new science blog, Abstract, and I thought everyone would be interested in some of the changes.  Here are a few comments from Keith Nichols about what’s happening with Bulletin and Abstract.

We made a couple of changes last week that give us new ways to reach our audiences.  And before going any further, thanks to the web team for the technical and design help.

The biggest change is that the Bulletin now has a real home, which will allow us to update the site daily.  It also gives us some additional flexibility and options in our story treatments.  This is new enough to us that we’re still working out some processes – like what happens to the idea of our weekly email outreach to faculty and staff alerting them to the newest edition.  Your suggestions on that point are welcome, as are story ideas.

Here’s a more detailed report from David Hunt (David and D’Lyn Ford are our e-newsletters editors:) [Read more →]

I get my share of anonymous comments on the HiceSchool blog and they really don’t bother me.  They tend to be at least somewhat informed and contribute to the discussion.  I’ve noticed that a number of other real “news outlets” receive far more outrageous comments on their message boards.  Check out the comment section following many N&O stories and you’ll know what I mean.

It has gotten so bad that some publications are talking about requiring registration and no longer allowing anonymous comments.

The other thing that gripes me is the “fictitious” source.  You know, the friend of a friend of a friend that some bloggers use to promote their view of a particular issue…and they always support the viewpoint of the blog.  Fortunately fake sources are generally contained to the blogosphere and don’t appear in the formal news media.

A friend with Curley & Pynn communications in Orlando provides his thoughts on anonymous sources in the following contribution.   Right on Dan.

Passion Rules!

1 of Many [Read more →]

As a public university, NC State receives numerous requests from individuals and organizations to provide information pertaining to research, education, our outreach efforts, funding, personnel and more.  While we strive to fulfill these “public records requests” as quickly and completely as possible, it can be a challenge, especially given the daily requirements and work load of our staff.  When requests ask for information that goes back for months — even years — you can only imagine.

To help provide consistency in the way we respond to these requests, the university has revised guidelines created back in July 2002.  I’m posting a copy of the revisions here, but there are a couple of  things to remember;  First, requests need to be made in writing.  This helps us understand the scope and nature of the requests and helps us determine who should respond.  We’ll log the requests and are in the process of developing a more consistent method of tracking their progress within the university. [Read more →]

NC State student Jason Smith shows off his iPad.

With all of the hoopla surrounding Apple’s newest gadget, NCSU Libraries (which already loans students everything from laptops and digital cameras to scanners, eBook readers and GPS units) wanted to put a few in the hands of a few NC State students to see what they really think.

Do they like it? Do they hate it? Would the iPad be helpful as they go through their normal educational routine?

Earlier this week, University Communications and the Libraries teamed up to give these five students a creative online outlet for their musings, reviews and comments. It’s gone extraordinarily well – our iPad-related pageviews have eclipsed the 3,000+ mark in less than 48 hours.

So far, comments have run the gamut from “OMG!” to “What was Apple thinking?” as the bloggers download Apps, browse the Web and attempt to do everything they normally would, both in and out of the classroom.

iPad Test Drive: http://www.ncsu.edu/features/tag/ipad/

And if you’ve already visited the site, take another look – our students will be posting day and night for the next week or so.

Passion Rules!

1 of Many

Michael Peace, a third year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine student in North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, is the recipient of a $27,000 scholarship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to support his participation in an innovative, year-long research training program with the National Institutes of Health.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute-National Institutes of Health (HHMI-NIH) Research Scholars Program provides “outstanding students at U.S. medical schools” the opportunity to receive research training under the mentorship of senior NIH research scientists. Peace is one of 42 scholarship recipients—and the only veterinary medicine student— selected from 207 applicants nationwide.

Scholars will live together at the Cloister, a residential community on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Peace will spend the first two months of the 12-month program interviewing with investigators and exploring opportunities with different labs prior to deciding which one of the more than 2,500 NIH projects encompassing cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, structural biology, and epidemiology is of interest and aligned with his career goals. He will then conduct basic, translational, or applied biomedical research under the direction of a senior NIH scientist before giving a formal presentation on his research activity. [Read more →]

Are you an 18-second manager?  Management guru Tom Peters thinks far to many of us should be quiet and listen.  He says listening may be more important than strategic planning.  In fact, he believe strategic listening is definitely more important than strategic planning.

Isn’t it ironic that I found this piece on Guy Kawasaki’s blog.  No, not the motorcycle guy, the ever incessant Twitter freak who never stops “talking,” but has some very interesting stuff on his site.  You go Guy!

So as Tom would say, “shut up and listen.”  Check it out.

http://holykaw.alltop.com/why-you-should-shut-up-and-listen-by-tom-pete

Passion Rules!

1 of Many