Monday, November 3, 2008
Greetings!
I hope that many of you have had the opportunity to read the several UT Journals that are part of our new myUT Home Page. As you may know, this new version of our Intranet is a little over a week old and we have already added additional authors and we will continue to do so in the weeks ahead.
Since my last update, I have had the opportunity to participate in the International Public Relations Society of America Conference held in Detroit last week. Our university was a sponsor and it was nice to see the UT logo among some of the world’s most well-known companies and brands. Going into the conference, I was most interested in attending sessions regarding “social media.” We are extremely interested in being a leader in social media within the university community and this was an opportunity to see what other corporations and institutions are doing in this emerging creative and dynamic form of communication.
A couple of key points that struck me were:
1. “Everyone can create content and now we can hear back from our audiences instantaneously.”
2. “We must have a strategy – not just get involved.”
These two points hit home since we are keenly interested in not only communicating with students, faculty and staff, but also want to hear back from you on all of our topics. Also, it’s not good enough just to get involved, we must have a well-thought- out strategy that is flexible enough to adjust as technology and communication vehicles change. Overall, I was extremely pleased with our progress to date, but also am reminded that we have many things to learn and most importantly exciting vehicles to try such as incorporating audio and video in Journals like the one you are now reading.
The last item I would like to mention regarding the PRSA conference is that I was extremely encouraged by the number of public relations and communications students attending and participating. The conference had a youthful and spirited feel about it and the future of public relations and communications is extremely bright within our own community and in the country.
Also since my last entry, I want to mention a story that ran in the Detroit Free Press. Our neighbor to the north, Wayne State University, has reported several years of declining enrollment at their institution. I mention this not because I like to see institutions struggling, but within the Free Press article it indicated that The University of Toledo has entered the southeastern Michigan market and is making inroads and is now a real competitive force for Wayne State and other Michigan institutions. This is the third year we have been advertising, marketing and visiting the Detroit market with two years of success behind us. I believe that we are only in the early stages of developing a real legacy and footprint within southeastern Michigan and over the next three-to-five years we’ll become a “top of mind” institution within that area. It’s rewarding and fun to visit my friends in Detroit and constantly hear about UT and the impact we’re making…the UT victory over U of M certainly complements our marketing efforts.
Lastly, I want to mention a few things about the events that occurred on our Scott Park Campus last Friday. We are all terribly concerned that such an unfortunate incident occurred involving the stabbing of two of our UT students. Our first concern was for the students’ safety and also for the safety of everyone else within the building and on the campus of Scott Park. You should all be pleased with the flawless response from The University of Toledo Police Department who arrived at the scene within two minutes after being notified of the incident. There has been some discussion within the media and on campus regarding the response of the UT Alert System. Once our Police Officers were on the site and took care of the two injured students and secured the building, judgment was made after interviewing several eye witnesses that the assailants had fled the building and had left the campus and area in a vehicle. As a precautionary measure, it was decided to activate the UT Alert System and the newly installed emergency speaker system. The UT Alert System requires a message to be developed that is factual and then technology comes into play. Once the message is accurately developed and the message is sent, we are then relying on the cell phone systems that the over 10,000 subscribers use for their cell phones. The UT Alert System, in the best case scenario, will take at least 30 minutes or more to be developed, sent and received by the UT Family. The original message on the UT speaker system was not understandable due to a microphone malfunction, so a second message was sent immediately that was understandable and very clear. Again, these two systems were activated primarily as a precautionary vehicle to communicate to our students, faculty and staff on the Scott Park Campus. It’s also important to know that senior administration, led by Dr. Jacobs, will use this event as a way to evaluate and look retrospectively to analyze our response to this event. We are determined and committed to improve our response each time we have the necessity to use these important tools. Lastly, it’s important to remember that our first line of safety and defense for our UT Family members is our Police Department and their response to this event was extremely timely and professional.
Thanks for taking the time to read my entry. I will keep you posted on what’s going on in External Affairs at your University of Toledo.
Regards,
Lawrence J. Burns