During the Spring 2022 semester, I leveraged multiple Public Relations Techniques
to elevate the awareness and internal support for the Division of Student
Academic Success at the University of Northern Colorado.
I approached the internal PR campaign through both my professional lens as the division strategist and as a professor trying to model the skills I expect my students to practice.
Spring 2022 PR Goals for Student Academic Success
Facilitate the transmission of advising and academic success information to the UNC Community
Success: I published 15+ blog posts that included video recordings with transcripts to transmit information. The UNC community can read, watch/listen, or review the transcript to get the information needed for student support.
Generate a reputation of quality professional development and support coming from Student Academic Success among the UNC internal community (staff/faculty)
Achieve the goals set for the social media team
Timeline of Efforts
To meet the specifications of the Client Project for JMS 380 (my PR Techniques course), where I served as the PR Consultant for Student Academic Success, I executed at least 3 PR opportunities within different mediums, provided my reflection on the experiences, and analyzed the overall success of the semester. The PR strategy revolved around events for the advising staff where I captured photo and video content, an advising blog to maximize each training event into additional content, and a social media campaign where I supervised an intern and content specialist.
Date | Activity | Impact |
January 3, 2022 | First Social Media Post on unco_success | Launching the Instagram Campaign |
January 7, 2022 | Sent Press Release announcing the social media launch to the campus community | Key partners assisted in promoting the IG to students during the first weeks of class. Our account grew by 102 followers, matching our target demographics, in the first three weeks thanks to the support from campus partners and our launch strategy. We continue to grow an average of 7% each week with 6,400+ average reach per month. |
February 1, 2022 | Launched the Advising Blog | Based on focus group testing and feedback, the Quick Bites Blog provided timely and relevant content for the campus community about advising and student success topics |
February 2022 | Updated Student Academic Success Website with Media Kit and Factbook | Uploaded media kits for Student Academic Success with logo files, preferred assets, factbooks, and Press Releases to help stakeholders engage with our student first work |
March 4, 2022 | Highly attended development event with collaboration among professional advisors and the Office of the Registrar. The panel was further maximized with a blog and sent to campus news and faculty training stakeholders | |
April 2022 | Partnered with the Director of Tutorial Services, a department within Student Academic Success, to produce several videos promoting services | |
May 12, 2022 | Advising Retreat | Planned and facilitated advising event and invited University Relations photographer to capture the staff with high-quality images |
Reflecting on the Efforts
The Division of Student Academic Success holds a mission to provide holistic, inclusive support helping students navigate the institution to meet their academic and personal goals by building relationships and enacting intentional support practices. All of the Public Relations work needed to align with that mission and serve SAS in raising awareness, information-sharing, and campus culture. Over the course of the semester, we did transmit information to the UNC Community through the Advising Blog and UNC Today newsletter while generating a reputation of quality support in the Division.
My technical skillset and attention to PR led to a formal title review and updated position to explitcely include "develop and manage communication channels" that promote the division's work among the campus community (among other revisions related to strategy). The updated title was elevated into a higher salary band to reflect the knowledge and skills needed.
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