Posts from — October 2010

At public four-year schools, average in-state tuition and fees this fall rose 7.9%, or $555 a year, to $7,605, according to the College Board‘s “Trends in College Pricing.” The average sticker price at private nonprofit colleges increased 4.5%, or $1,164, to $27,293.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2010-10-28-college-tuition_N.htm

By most measures, this year’s employees’ charitable campaign, Wolfpack Gives Back, is a success. In just six weeks, we’ve raised the same amount of money and achieved the same level of participation as we did last year after eight weeks, collecting more than $526,000 from 32 percent of our employees.

But I don’t think any of us is satisfied with just matching last year’s numbers. I know I’m not.

The need is simply too great. For example, at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, demand for food is up more than 60 percent this year, an unprecedented increase.  The change that’s in your cup holder could provide a meal for a family of four.

We can help meet this need, and the needs of more than 1,000 other charities. [Read more →]

Been trading messages with Tracy Playle in the UK this week about social media.  Tracy’s company, Pickle Jar Communications, provides consulting services to higher education and others and I love her open and honest style.  Anyway, I saw one of her blog posts on the new CASE social media blog and thought those of you who haven’t seen Tracy’s comments about Social Media there, would like to read them here.  Emphasis added by yours truly.

From Tracy Playle, Oct. 12, 2010:

I’ve just this minute spotted a tweet from Danny Yoder of Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in the U.S., urgently asking the Twitter community what a university president ought to know about social media. This is a question that I get asked a lot and to some extent advise on a fair bit in the strategy and training work I do on social media for universities. So, in the hope that I help Danny in time for his 2 hour deadline, and perhaps one or two others out there that are grappling with this question, here’s my top five, very much off the top of my head, thoughts on this…

1. Vice chancellors and presidents need to know that social media is here to stay and not just a passing ‘fad.’ It’s very easy for them to get caught up in the notion that only small percentages of people might have a twitter or a social bookmarking account, and that Facebook may well die a death in two years time as something like Friends Reunited has (perhaps even MySpace). It is not, however, the sites themselves that are important in this trend, but the overall changes that this makes to the way in which we communicate and collectively work together to prompt change (see Clay Shirkey’s work in this area). Social media is here to stay. Social media revolution video is always a good starting point for making this point and drumming home the sheer scale of this (even if VCs/presidents don’t use social media themselves).
2. Social media does not just provide another channel through which we, as universities, can ‘push’ out our usual corporate messages. Many marketing and PR people, and their managers/leaders, have jumped on the social media bandwagon as a means of ‘free advertising.’ Those who do this will only serve to upset individuals. Social media is about engagement and conversation, not about push messaging. See my blog post about the need to be useful, interesting and relevant to your audiences. [Read more →]

Welcome, distinguished guests, students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends.  We are glad you are here.

Susan and I have been here for about six months.  The Wolfpack family has met us with open arms.  It’s been a great experience and we are humbled and inspired by it.  Thank you.

As you might imagine, I have met a lot of people so far.  I have already learned a lot about you and have learned a lot from you.  The first thing I learned is that everywhere I went, people had good things to say about NC State.  In Edenton and Kinston, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, in Charlotte, Asheville, and Wilmington.  I’ve heard from Governor Perdue and Mayor Meeker.  People across the state speak in glowing terms about the university and its impact.  So if there is any doubt in your mind that this university is seen as anything but relevant …if there’s any doubt about the strong reputation of NC State in North Carolina, let me reassure you.

At the Board of Governor’s meeting earlier this month, our own Michael Walden was honored as a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Public Service.   In introducing Michael, Charles Hayes, president and CEO of the RTP Regional Partnership, complimented him not just as an expert on the North Carolina economy, but as someone with an ability to communicate his knowledge and ideas to the general public and to students in the classroom.  Charles added, “That’s NC State.” [Read more →]

Here’s a question from the Educational Marketing Group:  Do you know someone who has achieved awesome things in higher education branding this past year? Now’s your chance to give them the attention and honor they so richly deserve.  http://bit.ly/bUBhxV

Nominate your pick for the prestigious International Brand Master Award 2010.  Individuals are able to nominate themselves. [Read more →]

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and MDC, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to expanding opportunity and reducing poverty, today announced
that Raleigh has been selected as one of four cities to participate in
the Partners for Postsecondary Success (PPS) initiative as part of a
Gates-funded national effort to improve postsecondary completion rates
among low-income young adults. [Read more →]

The folks at Yahoo Education created a list of the “most favorite” jobs and public relations comes in at No. 2.  Not sure how I feel about that, especially when you read the opening phrase; “If you love socializing.” When will they ever learn.

Read more at “Where have all the fun jobs gone?”

I can’t tell you how often a job candidate will start off by telling me “I’m good with people,” thinking that this will encourage me to move forward with a hire.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate people, but being good with people isn’t one of the top priorities on my list.

So I ask myself, what are the characteristics I pay attention to?  Here, in no particular order are Five things I look for in a public relations or marketing professional.

1. Writer/Story Teller.  Not just short 140 character paragraphs either.  You’ve got to understand the basics of news writing.  The Inverted Pyramid.  Take a class. Read a book.  You can learn to be a better writer.  And, after all, what is writing all about?  Telling stories and you’ve got to be a good story teller in this business if you want to survive:-)

2. Organized.  Ya think!  But you’d be surprised how many communications professionals are a mess when it comes to organization.  Just check out my desk if you don’t believe me.  But looks aren’t everything.  You’ve got to be able to prioritize and and structure your day, your client’s work, your organization’s work.  Multitasking might be a better word than organized.  An organized multi tasker is even better.

3. Fearless.  As Lady GaGa says, do different proud.  If you want to stand out; if you want your clients to stand out, you’ve got to stand out.  You’ve got to be different.  Being different is not easy.  You get pushed and pulled to conform all the time, but those practitioners who are able to look at things differently arrive at new and different solutions to the challenges they face.  They have the most success in marketing and public relations and their companies and clients are the most successful too. [Read more →]

I’ve been out of touch the last few days, but am starting to get back into the swing of things. Spoke to a group of advancement professionals in Chicago earlier today and back in Raleigh now.

Because I don’t understand all the ins and outs of the advancement services world, speaking to the group was a little intimidating but I hope I challenged them to look at the world differently. To think differently. Ask them to reevaluate the way they do business, especially in the new environment that all of us in higher education are forced to deal with today.

That was hard, but saying goodbye to my mom was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I had to do that last Saturday.

How do you capture all those years of Love and emotions in just a couple of minutes. How do you say goodbye?

Thank you all for joining us today to celebrate the life of our mom, Mary Philomenia Blankley Hice. (May 15, 1926 – Sept. 29, 2010) Most of you knew her as Phill.

It’s a shame that it takes occasions like this to get us together, but we are all grateful to everyone here. Your support and caring means a great deal to Dad, me, Charlie and Janie, to the grand kids and everyone else who knew Mom. I know she’d be happy to see us all together, especially since she was not able to join in many family activities during the last years of her life due to the rheumatoid arthritis that was eating away at her.

She used to say a little prayer to help her during the tough times and I’d like to read that now.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannon change. The courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.”

The thing everyone used to notice about Mom was her smile. She had the most beautiful one I’ve ever known, and no doubt it has been embedded in my mind since I was a baby and she first smiled down on me in the cradle. [Read more →]