As a former newspaper and magazine editor this comes as no surprise, but is disappointing.  I still begin everyday with the local paper and a cup of coffee then move on to the Web and cable news shows.  My generation, eh.

I grew up when most major cities had two newspapers.  In Tampa, where I worked, we had the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Times and just across the bay was the St. Petersburg Times and Evening Independent.  The Clearwater Sun was nearby and Florida Trend Magazine and Tampa Bay Business Journal set the trend for business publications throughout the nation.  It was quite an area for journalism and many lifelong relationships were created there.

The USC study found that just 56%  of Internet users ranked newspapers as  important or very important sources of information for them, down from 60% in 2008 –  and below the Internet (78%) and television (68%).  You’ll have to check out the study to find out more.

Passion Rules!

Dr. Craig Harms and Dean David Bristol of NC State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine are participating in a special forum that will assess North Carolina’s preparedness to respond and recover from an oil spill event. Free and open to the public, the forum will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, July 29, at the UNC Friday Center for Continuing Education in Chapel Hill.

The “One Health Forum on North Carolina Oil Spill Response, Recovery and Health Effects” includes speakers from state and federal agencies who have expertise in public health, marine science, emergency management, and natural resources. Discussion will focus on the state’s strengths, the required coordination and collaboration among organizations, the training and use of volunteers, and areas that need additional coverage and management.

Dean Bristol and Dean Barbara Rimer of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health will open the forum and welcome participants at 9 a.m.

At 1 p.m. Dr. Harms, an associate professor of aquatic, wildlife, and zoological medicine, will discuss what he learned in his recent animal rescue work in the Gulf and how that experience could relate to protecting marine life in North Carolina.

Dr. Harms, along with CVM colleagues Dr. Greg Lewbart and veterinary technician Shane Christian, responded to an emergency request from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to work with the Audubon Nature Institute in managing turtle rescue efforts following the BP oil spill. The trio spent a total of three weeks in the Gulf working with green, loggerhead, hawksbill, and the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles.

Go to http://www.sph.unc.edu/oilspill for more information on the One Health Forum including an agenda and a registration form. You may also contact Bill Gentry wgentry@email.unc.edu at 919.966.4228.

The William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education is located at 100 Friday Center Drive, Chapel Hill (map and directions)

Forum participants include:

• UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
• N.C. State University, College of Veterinary Medicine
• North Carolina emergency managers & public health senior staff
• UNC Institute for the Environment
• UNC School of Medicine and School of Nursing
• N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources
• N.C. Department of Agriculture veterinarians
• Regional veterinarians
• U.S. Coast Guard senior staff
• UNC marine scientists
• North Carolina coastal county managers
• North Carolina county health directors
• Emergency managers and health preparedness coordinators
• County environmental health chiefs and supervisors
• State regional response teams
• State public health preparedness and response representatives
• Elected state and local officials
• Business and tourism representatives

The One Health concept is a worldwide strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans and animals. The synergism achieved will advance health care for the 21st century and beyond by accelerating biomedical research discoveries, enhancing public health efficacy, expeditiously expanding the scientific knowledge base, and improving medical education and clinical care.

Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant

By Daniel de Vise  |  July 19, 2010; 11:21 AM ET

Here’s Goldberg’s post from the Digital Buzz Blog.  It’s official: The awareness of Twitter in the United States has risen within one percent of the awareness of Facebook, according to a survey of 100 million unique users. See the numbers for yourself at the Digital Buzz Blog.

What does this mean for your business?

For starters, statistics like these confirm that the social media revolution is only getting stronger. Through social media, marketers are able to reach their audience in the exact places where they “hang out” with their friends online. Twitter, in particular, assists marketers in taking their products’ voice and messages directly to where the crowd is — online inside their homes and on their hand-held mobile devices.

Most importantly, it’s never been more essential to keep creating interactive content. Stand out and make your content relevant, conversational and more colorful, not hidden from the masses.

KG Partners is a nationally recognized advertising and branding agency located in Portland, Maine. Helping companies build brands, increase share and meet overall business goals is what we do. Delivering big picture strategy, forward-thinking creative and seamless execution is how we do it. Check out www.kgmoment.com for more information.

http://www.youtube.com/user/oldspice?v=uLTIowBF0kE&feature=pyv&ad=5066092457&kw=funny&gclid=CNWt8fa18KICFYxU2godFRE8lg

Use the Library is the message, Old Spice Man-type guy is the messenger.  Great work.  Reminds me that a number of universities have used humor and pop culture to enhance their brands.  Some of my favorites follow.  I’m more familiar with some than others:-)

BYU New Spice Study Like a Scholar:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs

I’m a Gator.  I’m a Buckeye: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5VyVLXKNdo

Hot, Hot, Hot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVENWl8uBeg

The Rivalry Guys who produced the “I’m a Gator” spots were so popular that students ran several off the spoofs during the Gator Growl pep rally in Gainesville.  The university also worked with the Rivalry Guys to create a new campus tour.  You wanna have some fun in university communications, give creativity a whirl.  You might like the results.

And I’ll be interested to know if the BYU library has a sudden influx of Old Spice smelling users.

Check out Andrew Careaga’s post about the spot here:  http://highered.prblogs.org/

Passion Rules!

The university had raised tuition by $150 for in-state undergraduate students and $200 for all other students.  The total tuition increase will be $900 for in-state undergraduates and $950 for all other students.

“The need is immediate and the options are few,” NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson said.  “This is the second consecutive year of deep budget cuts.  With generous state support, North Carolina universities have historically held their tuition as low as possible while providing a quality education.  But low tuition without quality is no bargain and without this tuition increase, academic quality will continue to erode.”

The new state budget takes $99 million from universities.  In the last three years, the state’s universities have taken a budget cut of $575 million.  This year, the state legislature gave universities the option of raising tuition by as much as $750.  Budget projections indicate NCState could lose up to 200 course sections and 6,500 classroom seats without the tuition increase.

“At some point, we have to stop the erosion or risk long-term damage to one of the state’s greatest assets: its higher education system,” Woodson said.  “But even a tuition increase of this size is no silver bullet.  NC State will still see about a $3 million shortfall.”  NC State will use the tuition increase to restore some of the classroom seats and course sections lost in recent budget cuts, and support faculty and research that have consistently contributed to North Carolina’s economic development, the chancellor said.  Consistent with its historical mission, NC State will set aside 20 percent of the tuition increase to support need-based financial aid.

“Our promise is to continue to protect the academic core and do all we can to ensure students have the opportunity to make steady progress toward graduation,” Woodson said.

“On the other side of the equation, we will continue to be strong partners with the state in job creation and economic development to help ensure that there will be jobs available for North Carolina’s college graduates.”

A systemwide tuition increase of this magnitude is not unprecedented. Recessions in the last 30 years have produced tuition increases of more than 19 percent five times, including a 24.7 percent increase in 2003.

Here are the tuition figures for fall:
●    Undergraduate in-state: $4,853
●    Undergraduate out-of-state: $17,388
●    Graduate in-state: $5,358
●    Graduate out-of-state: $17,406

Even with the increase, NC State’s tuition is second lowest on the university’s list of 16 peers, which includes Maryland, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. Only the University of Florida is lower.  NC State has been named a national “best value” by Kiplinger’s, US News and Princeton Review.  The best value rankings are based on quality and affordability.

Because states, unlike the federal government, are required to balance their budgets, state funding for higher education is heavily influenced by the states’ fiscal situation, reflecting a cycle unique to higher education, the report said.  Funding typically takes a disproportionate hit when state fiscal conditions are weak, but experiences more robust increases when state budgets recover.

“The rationale is simple: Colleges and universities can find other sources of income, such as tuition, to compensate for reduced state support. This is not an option available to other state services. As a result, fluctuations in state fiscal conditions often have a greater impact on higher education,” the report said.

According to the report, financial woes brought on by global economic weakness have been especially hard on higher education institutions, which typically rely on three major funding streams: state appropriations, school endowments and tuition. In addition to declining appropriations, university endowments have received fewer gifts and experienced massive investment losses. With two of the three major funding sources down, many state policymakers turned to the only remaining source and raised tuition, thereby increasing the proportion that students and families pay for higher education.

According to research conducted by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), tuition increased 2 percent between FY 2008 and FY 2009 and is now more than 37 percent of total education revenue. In FY 1984, it was less than 25 percent.

Click here to view the full report.

Passion Rules!

I found the strategic communications plan for my alma mater quite easily (I actually have a copy in my file).  I’ve used the UF communications plan and sections of the plan to describe what we do (or I think we should do) at NC State  since I arrived in Raleigh.

UF does not have a written strategic plan for the entire university, or it didn’t when I left almost a year ago. Each unit (16 colleges ++) develops its own plan. The goals and objectives of the university president are established in conjunction with the UF Board of Trustees and the president reports on his progress toward those goals and objectives during the quarterly meetings of the BOT.

If you haven’t already visited the site, he’s a link to the UF Strategic Communications plan.  It’s good work and well considered.  UFStrategicCommunicationsPlan2009.  You should also check out the University of Florida Communications Network Website (UFCN.)  More good stuff.  http://ufcn.urel.ufl.edu/

To demonstrate the importance of strategic communications planning at Florida, the plan and work schedule of the planning committee can be found on the UF President’s Web site.  http://www.president.ufl.edu/committees/strategiccommunication/ The committee also makes regular reports to the External Relations sub-committee of the Board of Trustees.

Support from the top is critical if a plan is to be taken seriously and by placing the committee agenda, work plan and results on the President’s Web page, the “support from the top” can’t be missed.  Try not cooperating with a presidential committee.

Also found the plan from Virginia Tech, Maryland, Michigan and Illinois easily.  Purdue and Georgia Tech.  Ditto.  Heck, it was even easy finding the strategic plan for Harley-Davidson.  (Again, knew where to look.) Other universities either don’t have a strategic plan or simply don’t call it that because I got frustrated and stopped searching.

There are plenty of interesting ideas in the documents and novel approaches to the planning process.  They are also amazing similarities, especially among the large public land grant universities.  That should come as no surprise, but it makes differentiation very difficult.

Here’s how the University of Georgia describes its mission as a public land grant university:

1. a statewide responsibility and commitment to excellence and academic achievements having national and international recognition; ditto NC State.

2. a commitment to excellence in a teaching/learning environment dedicated to serve a diverse and well-prepared student body, to promote high levels of student achievement and to provide appropriate academic support services; ditto NC State.

3. a commitment to excellence in research, scholarship and creative endeavors that are focused on organized programs to create, maintain and apply new knowledge and theories; that promote instructional quality and effectiveness; and that enhance institutionally relevant faculty qualifications; ditto NC State.

4. a commitment to excellence in public service, economic development, and technical assistance activities designed to address the strategic needs of the state of Georgia along with a comprehensive offering of continuing education designed to meet the needs of Georgia’s citizens in life-long learning and professional education; ditto NC State in North Carolina.

5. a wide range of academic and professional programming at the baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral levels; ditto NC State.

And here’s what we say about NC State’s vision and land grant mission:

Throughout all leadership appointments and administrations, NC State has remained true to its founding mission: serve its students and the people of North Carolina as a doctoral and research-extensive, land-grant university. Now, as the university evolves its land-grant mission to respond to the needs of the 21st century, NC State will:

• Create an innovative learning environment that stresses mastery of fundamentals, intellectual discipline, creativity, problem solving, and responsibility through the active integration of teaching, research, extension, and engagement. ditto Georgia.
• Enhance its historic strengths in agriculture, science, and engineering with a commitment to excellence in a comprehensive range of academic disciplines. ditto Georgia.
• Provide leadership among staff and administration for collaboration with faculty and students to ensure educational, intellectual, cultural, social, economic, and technological development and outreach within the state, the nation, and the world. ditto Georgia.

So, as noted earlier.  I’ll be reviewing how many of our peer universities approach strategic planning during the next several weeks, all in preparation for a July 23 University Council Meeting to discuss the planning process.  If you’ve got a favorite plan or an example you’d like to share, please send it my way, and please offer your comments and thoughts about planning in general.  It’s all about communications.

Passion Rules!