Communications and Marketing, winter 2022
The Division of Communications and Marketing spent the fourth quarter of 2023 as busy as ever, providing creative support for the campus, working with external media and The Conversation to promote University initiatives and faculty research, and supporting internal communications on a number of levels. We continue to use the information provided to the University by higher-education marketing firm Carnegie to align University messaging with who we are: confident, empowering achievers; adventurous, inquiring explorers; and dynamic, intelligent collaborators. This alignment included holding a workshop with Undergraduate Admissions counselors to educate them on University messaging.
Communications support internally also included assisting when the University experienced a computer software issue that affected many on campus. The incident has allowed the division to revisit its emergency communications strategies and confirm procedures to ensure we will reach appropriate audiences with appropriate messaging when necessary.
Creative Services
Creative Services provided strong design, print and web support to Undergraduate Admissions and the University’s schools this quarter, including through completion of an admitted student piece and open house materials; annual reports for the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the Binghamton University Foundation; and Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences’ Decker Connect and the fall issue of Binghamton University Magazine.
Additional projects that help maintain the University’s reputation included the 75 Ways We’re Inspiring Well-being book for the Healthy Campus Initiative; wayfinding materials for Decker College; and holiday cards from the president and various schools and departments, as well as stationary, fact sheets, postcards and posters.
Many of these publications also required posting to the web or being sent via email to key audiences. These projects included the holiday emails from the president, schools and departments and the Foundation annual report.
Additionally, Creative Services built the Division of Research website, a Wi-Fi splash page for the Events Center, an admitted student webpage for Undergraduate Admissions and digital campaign landing pages.
Creative Services continues to provide search engine optimization reports and suggestions, support for Slate and email development for both undergraduate and graduate student recruitment and maintenance of the health of binghamton.edu (reviewing/updating for broken links, meta data, spelling, grammar, OU account training, account creation, account deletion and handling requests from campus partners.
Enrollment marketing efforts
The Buzz
The Buzz is a series of weekly emails containing important requirements, reminders, Orientation and course registration, and other information to prepare new students for their arrival and first few weeks on campus. The Buzz also covers some lighter topics that showcase the myriad of ways to get involved.
This quarter, spring 2023 first-year and transfer students received the Buzz beginning early November. A separate Buzz stream is sent to international students through coordination with the International Student and Scholar Services Office.
Acceptance piece (You’re the 1 we want)
Communications and Marketing redesigned the brochure that admitted students receive in the mail. New this year was a “Day-in-the Life” section.
Admitted-student microsite
New! First-year admitted students are now directed to a microsite specifically for them. There they find information about yield events (Admitted Student Open House, off-campus receptions, etc.) videos, social media, a Spotify playlist created by our interns and more!
Communication streams
We continue to update and add to our email communication streams that are sent daily to prospective students, parents and high-school counselors.
Fall Open House
We promoted and assisted with print/emails and social media for the two in-person events.
Social media
The Undergraduate Admissions Instagram and Facebook accounts both saw a gain in followers this quarter: Facebook +1.9% and Instagram +0.7%. This Instagram page has been focused on posting appealing content including dining hall food, highlights of recent student/faculty/alumni successes, annual events, campus resources, housing options, current student takeovers and interactive content. Our Instagram story has been successful for submissions of BeReal photos, interactive Trivia Tuesdays, voting polls, etc. We had a successful National Student Transfer Week campaign that featured videos of faculty from the Transfer Student Services Office and the Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development, videos of current transfer students and a day-in-the-life takeover. This campaign reached an engagement and reach of approximately 2,123 accounts and a total of 1,762 likes.
Media and Public Relations
The Office of Media and Public Relations had a productive quarter, with high-profile news hits, engaging photos and videos, informative blogs and more, covering everything from student and faculty initiatives to the holidays.
Binghamton faculty made a major impact in the media for their research and expertise, landing hits with CNN, The Washington Post, NPR, the AP and other noteworthy outlets. From discussing how spiders use their webs to extend their hearing, to how Spam became cool again, our faculty helped to bring Binghamton into the spotlight and showcase their expertise and the quality of research taking place at the University.
We produced a new video series targeting prospective students, covering residential life, academics and more, as well as a Living and Working at Binghamton video series to attract a larger, more diverse pool of faculty and staff.
As we wrapped up the semester, the team published a variety of year-end/holiday content including a new ‘Twas the Night Before Finals video, Year in Review, Top Photos of the Year and more.
Binghamton in the News - National highlights
Robert Ku, associate professor of Asian and Asian American Studies; and associate professor and chair of sociology, was featured by various news outlets, for the following news articles.
- The Associated Press, MSN.com, The Washington Post, Yahoo!.com, ABC News and various news outlets: How a new musical brings the high-energy world of K-pop to Broadway.
- CNN, MSN.com and various other news outlets: How the food product Spam became cool again.
Adam Laats, professor of history and education, was featured by CNN, The Chronicle of Higher Education and other publications, where he discussed the great textbook debate that forever changed U.S. school boards.
Suzanne McLeod, coordinator of educational leadership, was featured by Yahoo!.com and Fox News, where she discussed cursive writing in American schools.
Ron Miles, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering, was featured by Scientific American and The Washington Post for a new study which shows how spiders use their webs to extend hearing.
M. Stanley Whittingham, distinguished professor of chemistry and 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner, was mentioned, along with Binghamton University, in a New York Post article about a new battery manufacturing facility located in Endicott, N.Y.
Shay Rabineau, associate professor of Israel studies and associate director of the Center for Israel Studies, was featured by NPR in an interview about the Dead Sea, and Rabineau’s new book, Walking the Land: A History of Israeli Hiking Trails, which explores the many ways that Israel’s hiking trails are significant to its history, national identity and conservation efforts.
Sumantra Sarkar, associate professor of management, was featured by Fortune, Inside Higher Ed, The Academic Minute and other publications, where he discussed how government agencies face unique challenges in achieving innovations and why digital security will only get more important in the future.
Andrew R. Walkling, professor of English, general literature and rhetoric, was featured by The History Channel, where he discussed several topics related to the British monarchy.
Randall H. McGuire, distinguished professor of anthropology, was featured by Inside Higher Ed and The Academic Minute, in an interview about how walls will not solve social issues. McGuire said that we live in a material world that entails ceaseless and varied interactions between people, things and landscapes.
Subimal Chatterjee, distinguished teaching professor in the School of Management, was featured by Scripps National News, where he offered consumer behavior insight on ticket-buying psychology.
Tracy Brooks, associate professor and vice chair of pharmaceutical sciences, was featured by Inside Higher Ed and The Academic Minute, in an article that offers insight on targeting proteins related to cancer.