Category — 1 of Many

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?

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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 →]

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

Randy Woodson arrived on campus today and started the morning with students.  He noted with a grin that our students have opinions about a lot of things; very strong opinions.  Transportation and parking, athletics, academics and the challenges of operating a decentralized major public university were among the issues they discussed.  The student experience at NC State was another.

He  then had meetings with the leadership groups of the Faculty and Staff senates, lunched with some of Raleigh’s business leaders, met with his team of Executive Officers (where he quoted John Fogarty,) hosted a reception for all those he will be working with at Holladay Hall, met with the editorial board of Technician, and finally had a moment to himself.  His schedule is similar tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day…

Whew.  I’m tired even thinking about what Chancellor Woodson has ahead of him as he takes control of the ship we know as North Carolina State University.

I was impressed with his presence throughout the day.  He was confident and well informed about NC State, but recognized he has much to learn and see before forming lasting opinions about the university.  He is a good listener.  He is also comfortable talking with students, staff, faculty, alumni and people throughout the community.  And he is humble, recognizing the tremendous opportunity he has before him and acknowledging the responsibilities of running the most important university in the state.  Strong traits for a new chancellor I think. [Read more →]

The reorganization of communications on campus has created a lot of good discussion on this Blog and elsewhere.  It’s obvious that some people love the change, while others hate it.  Some want to see more, but faster change.  Some want to see more, but slower change.  Some don’t want to see any change at all:-(

You know me, I love change.  Good or bad, change happens and it is sure to be a constant here at NC State.  Remember, we have a new Chancellor starting on Monday!

But one aspect of life at NC State that is sure to take some time to change, is the decentralized nature of the university.  Randy Woodson will make some changes there, and we’re doing the same in communications.  If I was to be pinned down, I would say I’m in favor of “rapid” change.  Not today or tomorrow change, but certainly not in five years change. Rapid change.

A couple of the blog comments and emails I received after the reorganization announcement got me thinking about the type of management that works best in a university environment.  The traditional corporate model might work in some examples of higher education (one boss, one voice,) but not here.  NC State has  become what it is today because of the strength of it’s colleges and units.  Not the strength of one individual.

Here, and in most examples of higher education, the manage-by-consensus model is most effective.  You work together with the entire organization (a collegial approach, get it) to develop a strategy and move forward.  When possible, you undertake bold initiatives like we’re doing with the reorganization of University Communications and CALS Communications Services.  And there will be more as we continue to advance.  I believe that movement forward in this environment requires starts and stops.  It’s very similar to the management style at Harley-Davidson.

1990 or 2010 Fatboy???????

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Announce one of the biggest changes in communications on campus in years, and no comments!  Come on folks.  I want to hear from you.  i need to hear from you.  What are your dreams and wishes?  What are your concerns and issues?  If you want to keep your comments private, there’s email or the telephone.

Passion Rules!

1 of Many