Communications and Marketing, summer 2020
The second quarter of 2020 was like no other on record for the Division of Communications and Marketing for several reasons — not the least being that the division was created in June when Greg Delviscio, associate vice president for communications and marketing in the Division of Academic Affairs, was promoted to vice president, reporting directly to President Harvey Stenger.
Communications and marketing staff continued to work from home throughout the quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic, playing a key role in keeping students, faculty, staff and the community up to date on the University’s status. A COVID-19 website including health and travel information as well as frequently asked questions was developed and updated on an almost daily basis. In addition, messages from the president and provost appeared on the COVID-19 page as well as on the president’s website on its statements page. The B-Line listserv became an every weekday vehicle to communicate with students after the University moved to remote learning, and Dateline continued as the method to reach faculty and staff, with Dateline and B-Line additions sent for breaking news.
Communications managers for the University’s individual schools also maintained strong COVID-19 coverage, writing and publishing stories in BingUNews about students on the frontlines of the pandemic as well as about donations of supplies to local healthcare workers and research underway to develop personal protective equipment (PPE) and methods to sterilize PPE.
Additionally, most of the University’s communication vehicles were used when, following the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, Minn. in early June, Black Lives Matter moved to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness. Messages from President Stenger were again sent out to the campus community and posted to his website.
In the midst of the semester and the pandemic, the division also published Binghamton University Magazine, featuring Nobel Laureate M. Stanley Whittingham on the cover, with more in-depth coverage of his Nobel Prize journey inside. Individual school magazines for the College of Community and Public Affairs and the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science were also delivered to mailboxes, as was the Innovation @ Binghamton Magazine.