Media and Public Relations, summer 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically transformed our media efforts over the last few months. To keep our audiences informed, we shifted our priorities to create and publish more content relating to the coronavirus, from posting blogs featuring alumni on the frontlines to #HumansOfBinghamton photos offering their perspective, to stories about faculty developing technology to help fight the virus.
To keep the Binghamton University community informed during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we posted a weekly video featuring President Harvey Stenger. Throughout the series, Stenger covered a variety of topics including the campus Food Pantry, supporting local restaurants, thanking essential employees and more. The videos were well-received and generated thousands of views, with the most popular video garnering 6,600+ views on YouTube.
To help students adapt and manage their stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mental Health Promotion Coordinator Jessica Cohen offered tips each Wednesday through our social stories on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, covering topics such as maintaining a routine and using social media in a positive manner. Videos were then posted to YouTube and compiled in a blog. The series continued for nine weeks, covering topics such as processing difficult emotions and practicing self-compassion.
Binghamton University faculty, staff and students spoke with news organizations around the world, offering insight into a number of topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic. From stock market predictions, to crucial information to keep people happy and healthy, Binghamton experts have been conducting interviews via email, phone and Zoom.
We held a virtual Champagne Sendoff for the Class of 2020 across three of our biggest platforms: Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The video featured toasts from notable faculty, alumni, students and public figures, followed by a scroll of each graduate’s name. The toast drew heavy engagement on all of our accounts and allowed the Binghamton community to celebrate while social distancing. On Facebook, it reached 76,000+, had a peak of 1,800+ live viewers and resulted in thousands of likes, comments and shares. Following the toast, we cut the video and posted the toasts separately on our social accounts, resulting in heavy engagement for videos featuring celebrities like alumni Sunny Hostin and Billy Baldwin.
National/local news coverage
Total circulation numbers: Over 397 million.
Jennifer Wegmann, lecturer for health and wellness studies, was featured in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and other publications, sharing her insight on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting eating habits. Total circulation: Over 133.8 million.
Brandon Gibb, professor of psychology, was featured in The Washington Post, where he discussed the negative aspects of co-rumination, which is when two people almost exclusively focus on problems and how bad things are, without problem-solving or pivoting toward anything positive. Total circulation: Over 71.8 million.
Jeremy Blackburn, assistant professor of computer science, was featured in The Washington Post, The San Francisco Gate and other publications, sharing his insight on how fear associated with the spread of coronavirus has fueled online racism targeting Asians. Total circulation: Over 64.6 million.
Adam Laats, professor of education, was featured in The Washington Post for his article about how an authoritarian power structure brought coronavirus to Liberty University. Total circulation: Over 57.2 million.
Steven Jay Lynn, distinguished professor of psychology, and doctoral student Craig Polizzi, were featured in Forbes, Psych Central, Health Medical Network and other publications for their research into coping strategies following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and how those could be used to deal with COVID-19 stress. Total circulation: Over 40 million.
Plamen Nikolov, assistant professor of economics, was featured in Inside Higher Ed and other publications for his research into the role of intertemporal biases in influencing individuals’ demand for social distancing. Total circulation: Over 5.8 million.
Nicole Hassoun, professor of philosophy, was featured in Reader’s Digest, sharing her insight on whether it’s appropriate to shop for non-essential items during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total circulation: Over 4.5 million.
Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger was featured in the Democrat and Chronicle, Press & Sun-Bulletin and other publications, where he discussed the University’s plans to start the fall 2020 semester on Aug. 26. Total circulation: Over 2.5 million.
Jeremy Philemon, a computer science major, was featured in the Central New York Business Journal, on NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV and in other publications for building a website to track COVID-19 in India. Total circulation: Over 2.5 million.
Fuda Ning and Jia Deng, both assistant professors of systems science and industrial engineering, along with Scott Schiffres, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, were featured in Today’s Medical Developments, Health News Digest, Spectrum News, WBNG-TV/NewsChannel, Fox 40 News/WICZ-TV and other news publications for their work to design and 3-D print ventilator adaptors to assist during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total circulation: Over 1.9 million.
Kelli K. Smith, assistant vice president for student success, was featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education for her insight on how unemployment hardships could derail the very students who were poised to drive colleges’ enrollment. Total circulation: Over 1.6 million.
Dave Hubeny, executive director of emergency management and chair of the International Association of Emergency Managers’ Universities and Colleges Caucus, was featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, where he discussed how by classifying employees as either “essential” or “nonessential,” contingency plans aim to maintain the continuity of an institution’s academic and business operations. Total circulation: Over 1.6 million.
Binghamton University engineers from the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science were featured in Medical Laboratory Observer and other publications for designing UV stations to aid healthcare workers in sterilizing equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total circulation: Over 1.4 million.
Rivka Slonim, education director at the Rhor Chabad Center at Binghamton University, was featured in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle for her findings that suggest Chabad programming has increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 stay-at-home mandates, with an increase in collaboration between Chabads across the city for virtual events. Total circulation: Over 913,500.
Bill Clark, adjunct lecturer for health and wellness studies, was featured in Health News Digest and other publications, where he discussed how an increased focus on fitness during the COVID-19 pandemic is due to a need for emotional security. Total circulation: Over 138,000.
Nicole Hassoun, professor of philosophy, was featured in Health News Digest, where she discussed how coronavirus knowledge needs to be shared freely, not kept secret by governments and corporations. Total circulation: Over 115,800.
Cynthia Maupin, associate professor in the School of Management, was featured in Health News Digest, on Fox 40 News/WICZ-TV and in other publications for her expertise on how leaders must adapt to a virtual workplace to effectively support employees. Total circulation: Over 3,900.
Adam Laats, professor of education and history, was featured in Health News Digest for his insight on how low-income students face a lack of educational opportunity amid the coronavirus pandemic. Total circulation: Over 3,800.
Local news coverage
Jacob Goodman, a Binghamton University student, was featured by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Syracuse.com, NewsChannel 34/WIVT-TV, NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV, Spectrum News, Fox 40 News /WICZ-TV and other publications for making a prototype ventilator that could be mass-produced at minimal cost. The ventilator is made out of a lunchbox and a camping water bottle, with some gears to properly control timing, an air compressor and a simple power supply. Total circulation: Over 3.1 million.
The Binghamton University Speech and Debate team was featured on Fox 40 News/WICZ-TV, NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV and NewsChannel 34/WIVT-TV for hosting an online debate session for third through eighth graders in Broome County. The workshops pit students up against one another as they debate both fun and politically relevant topics. Total circulation: Over 590,000.
Dave Hubeny, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management, was featured on NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV and Fox 40 News/WICZ-TV for reports highlighting how Binghamton University donated thousands of medical supplies to Broome County. Donations from campus faculty and staff included the following personal protective equipment, or PPE: Over 166,000 gloves, 2,500 N95 masks, over 2,500 earloop procedural-style masks and over 750 medical gowns. Total circulation: Over 576,000.
Kathy Wander, assistant professor of anthropology, was featured on NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV for her expertise. Wander said, “There’s no reason to lose hope during this crisis, as long as we work together.” Total circulation: Over 246,000.
Jennifer Wegmann, lecturer in health and wellness studies, was featured on NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV and Fox 40 News/WICZ-TV, discussing why social interaction is important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total circulation: Over 246,000.
George Homsy, director of the Master of Sustainable Communities program, was featured on NewsChannel 12/WBNG.com, discussing what we can learn from the COVID-19 crisis, in light of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Total circulation: Over 246,000.
Brian Kam, Binghamton University pharmacy student, was featured in a NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV story highlighting Binghamton pharmacy students on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic. Total circulation: Over 246,000.
James Pitarresi, vice provost and executive director of the Center for Learning and Teaching, was featured on Fox 40 News/WICZ-TV, discussing how Binghamton University transitioned to online classes. Total circulation: Over 46,000.
As part of a new expert series on COVID-19, WICZ-TV News hosted several faculty including: Robert Ji-Song Ku, department chair and associate professor of Asian and Asian American Studies; Lisa Yun, associate professor of Asian and Asian American Studies; Judith Quaranta, assistant professor of nursing; Nicole Hassoun, professor of philosophy and head of the Global Health Impact project; Jenna Moore, assistant director of fitness and wellness for Campus Recreation; Dan McKeever, assistant professor of finance; and Samantha Wagner, doctoral student in psychology. Total circulation: Over 322,000.
Robert Ji-Song Ku, department chair and associate professor of Asian and Asian American Studies, and Lisa Yun, associate professor of Asian and Asian American Studies, were featured in a Fox 40 News/WICZ-TV report on how Asian Americans are facing hostile behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total circulation: Over 46,000.
Judith Quaranta, assistant professor of nursing, was featured on Fox 40 News/WICZ.com, sharing her expertise on how to handle risk and anxiety for asthma during the coronavirus pandemic. Total circulation: Over 46,000.
Nicole Hassoun, professor of philosophy and head of the Global Health Impact project, was featured on Fox 40 News/WICZ.com, discussing how businesses should consider employee health and finances when making the transition back to work. Total circulation: Over 46,000.
Jenna Moore, assistant director of fitness and wellness for Campus Recreation, was featured on Fox 40 News/WICZ-TV, offering tips on how to stay active while stay-at-home orders are in effect. Total circulation: Over 46,000.
Dan McKeever, assistant professor of finance, was featured on Fox 40/WICZ-TV, discussing how long economic recovery will take amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, what you should do with your personal finances, and what should be put in place Total circulation: Over 46,000.
Samantha Wagner, Binghamton University doctoral student of psychology, was featured on Fox 40 News for her insight on how relationships can be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Total circulation: Over 46,000.
Pamela Stewart Fahs, professor and rural nursing expert, was featured on Spectrum News. Fahs was quoted as saying, “If you have a hospital that doesn’t have an ICU, but does outpatients treatments, outpatient procedures, some people won’t be necessary to patient care and might be furloughed for that period of time.” Total circulation: Over 5,000.
Binghamton University junior Michael Ahr and his fellow classmates were featured on Spectrum News, NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV and The Central New York Business Journal for their participation in an esports tournament for COVID-19 funding. Ahr competed in a SUNY esports tournament, featuring 40 schools. He and two other fellow Binghamton University students competed in the finals, for up to $20,000 worth of COVID-19 relief funding. Total circulation: Over 444,000.
Bryan Kirschen, assistant professor of Spanish and linguistics, was featured on NewsChannel 12/WBNG-TV for teaching a free course on the endangered language of Ladino during quarantine. Total circulation: Over 681,000.