Contact person: Audrey Shalinsky, Associate Dean (ashal@uwyo.edu)
Alumni take pride in having graduated from a superb department — help them feel proud. Students want to come to a school with a great reputation — help us build one. The dean needs to know good news when meeting alumni and friends. We rely on success stories to tell donors and potential donors.
Department newsletters or a newsy letter are excellent ways to communicate to alumni. Once or twice a year, write to your department’s alumni. Tell them about general trends and accomplishments and highlight accomplishments of some faculty and students. If possible, include news from your alumni and report on donor-sponsored programs such as scholarships, speakers, and field trips. It’s also appropriate to solicit financial support, but first please check with the college’s Development Office.
The University of Wyoming Public Relations Style Manual is available at http://www.uwyo.edu/Publicrelations/publications/resources/default.asp.
The PR coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences is available for consultation regarding newsletter layout and design, etc.
College Publications
1. A&S You Like It (A&SYLI) is the internal newsletter for faculty and staff. Three issues are published each semester. “Department Notes” is a regular feature. Department news items should be e-mailed to the College of Arts and Sciences Public Relations Coordinator at dream@uwyo.edu. As editor of A&S You Like It, the PR Coordinator sets all deadlines, which are posted on the A&S Web Site and printed in each issue of A&S You Like It. This section gives departments an opportunity to communicate faculty and staff accomplishments. News about students is not encouraged unless they present at professional conferences. Items are reviewed for possible use in news releases. A&SYLI may be used to promote department functions, and all calendar items should be sent to dream@uwyo.edu—check the publication schedule to allow plenty of lead time. Guest commentary is welcome. Click Guidelines for submitting information for Department Notes for formatting details.
2. A&S Report is a four-color, 16-page magazine for alumni, friends, and constituents. Outstanding students, faculty, and alumni are highlighted in this publication. Regular feature sections of the magazine include A&S Scrapbook (depicting historic aspects of the college), A&S Events (an opportunity to share information about major college events of interest to A&S Report readers), A&S Bookcase (a way to promote A&S faculty, staff, and alumni book authors), and Alumni News (Please share news about your department’s alumni.) When you know about an interesting story, please inform both Audrey and Diana. Feel free to share information about study abroad, A&S outreach, faculty and student achievement, and successful alumni. In addition, A&S Report’s development pages communicate about annual and major gifts to the college. High-quality, color photographs are used throughout the publication. When submitting electronic images, they must have a DPI of no less than 300.
Information from A&S You Like It and A&S Report is used by the UW President to report A&S news to the UW Trustees at their regular meetings. Help us tell the good news about your department by sending story ideas and/or high-quality photos to Audrey Shalinsky or Diana Marie Waggener.
3. UWYO magazine and UW News Service publicize events, report accomplishments, and relate human-interest stories. Let us help you promote your department. Please send press releases and calendar information to Jim Kearns at jkearns@uwyo.edu or Diana Marie Waggener at dream@uwyo.edu.
4. Web. Increasingly, Web pages play a major role in promoting departments and programs. Think about your audiences (potential students and their families, alumni, future employees) and try to meet their needs. University Relations offers a content management system that can help you keep your website attractive and current. For more information see visual communications page on the PR website. (See Web Pages in this manual for tips and view the college's development web site for an example http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/a&s/Development/alumni.asp.) With giving-on-line now gaining in popularity, it's wise to include giving information on web sites. Include your wish list and examples of how major and annual fund gifts have helped your program. Please include the giving-on-line link on your home page with encouragement to contribute to your department/program.
Nominate (convincingly) your students, faculty, and alumni for awards (see Nominations).
The lobby in the A&S Building has three display cases: a large, deep, glass case; a flat case suitable for posters and pictures, and a very small display case. There is a lot of traffic in the Lobby from both the campus and Laramie. You may use these cases to promote an event or show student/faculty accomplishments. To reserve a display case, call Sidney Walter at X6-2757.
We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words. The best pictures have a story, so when your department has a story to tell, photograph it. For instance, guest speakers, alumni/faculty/student awards, field trips, new equipment, club activities, and department programs and classes all offer photo-ops. Try for an interesting action picture. For photos, contact Photo Service (X6-3257), the A&S editor (X6-2756), or Sam Kerr (X6-4106) in the Dean’s Office.
Use the photos. Digital pictures are easily published on the Web—on your department home page or the A&S or UW web pages. Send a copy to the parties involved; it makes a nice thank-you. The Dean’s Office often needs good color photos for presentations and publications. And, of course, your department brochure can benefit from good photos.