Academic Report 2007-08

Academic Report 2007-08

University Advancement

2007-2008 Highlights:

1.  Programmatic achievements

a.  Student Engagement and success

·  Increased OSU’s Web presences through a pay-per-click advertising campaign. 4,665,338 impressions, 26,709 clicks, 57% click-through-rate.

·  Finalized a communications plan for the University’s financial aid efforts including new messages; a new visual design and site organization for the Financial Aid office’s Web site to make their information more accessible; and added components for the Hispanic community.

·  Produced more than 40 print pieces for Admissions in support of recruiting efforts, contributing to an increase in freshmen undergraduates from 5.4 percent in fall 2007 to 6.6 percent in fall 2008.

·  Redesigned Commencement Web site.

·  Produced a number of home page features highlighting students from many backgrounds.

·  Stories about student research, educational goals and career aspirations appeared as a regular component of Terra and the President’s Reports. Copies were provided to students and to their parents.

·  UA features student speakers throughout the year at many events.

·  Created an annual event at the President’s House for head advisers. UA works with advisers on a number of campaigns including the new and upcoming Mentors Series.

·  Continue to showcase the quality of students at OSU through student stories in Admissions’ print publications.

·  Continued the Scholar Athletes poster series honoring these students for their academic achievements and showcasing them in academic and inspirational settings.

b.  Research and its impact

·  Promoted research programs and initiatives to the Portland market with two eight-week TV advertising schedules (fall ’07 and spring ’08) and ran a series of newspaper ads in The Oregonian featuring faculty; and full-page ads in Oregon Business’ Research edition featuring faculty research stories.

·  Redesigned the Marine Mammal Institute Web site.

·  Terra and the 2007 President’s Report (print and online) are designed to demonstrate research impact for audiences on and off the campus. Terra also focused on the translation of OSU research into new products such as devices for precision agriculture, commercially important disease-resistant trees and software to reduce costly spreadsheet errors.

·  In May, UA and the Provost’s Office and Office of Research celebrated Recognizing Excellence – a day of faculty recognition for outstanding research and teaching. These events included the OSU Authors Recognition, Innovation Breakfast featuring the Hall of Patents, the Distinguished Professor Lectures and a recognition lunch.

·  Enhanced relationships with key regional and national media through visits to those outlets. In particular, our annual Washington tour resulted in a new relationship with the NSF Communications Office that has already created new visibility for OSU on the U.S. News & World Report, LiveScience.com and Discovery Channel Web sites.

·  Introduced a new Media Fellowship program that will bring eight to ten national media writers to campus for an immersion in faculty research.

·  Worked to draw attention to OSU participants in February’s American Association for the Advancement of Science meetings, resulting in broad, international exposure.

·  Supported growth in OSU broadcast coverage this year by working closely with crews producing or seeking to produce coverage of OSU people and programs. Outlets included National Geographic TV, CBS News, A&E History Channel, the Discovery Channel, Discovery Channel Europe, NHK/Japan, WGBH-Boston, National Public Radio, the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

c.  Outreach and engagement

·  Worked with Ecampus (enrollment increased 12.84 percent fall 2007) and Summer Session (increase of 1.6 percent) on marketing plans and student recruitment advertising materials.

·  UA is involved with and has hosted several community and statewide events including involvement with Oregon 150 and the Linus Pauling Stamp unveiling.

·  Vice President visited many of the 17 experiment stations around Oregon, connecting with faculty and building story ideas for publicity.

d.  Community and Diversity

·  Executed Hispanic marketing strategies that contributed to an 8 percent increase in enrollment for this group.

·  Updated the University’s DVD used by Admissions for student recruitment and added a Spanish language track targeting Hispanic students and their parents.

·  Produced six radio spots featuring Native American students that run as PSAs on community radio stations.

·  Created a visual design for Inter-cultural Student Services

·  Provided marketing support CASA Educacional’s Si Se Puede event. Attendance increased this year with 66 families attending the event (175 total people).

·  Division of University Advancement participated in Diversity 101 and 102 training.

·  Several division members are on the Office of Community and Diversity’s Marketing Committee and serve on C2D.

·  Built new WAGE Web site for this new program.

·  My OSU News highlights diversity and community stories each month.

e.  International-level activities

·  Created print materials for Admissions’ international marketing efforts – 3.5 percent increase in enrollment.

·  UA is involved in initial conversations with INTO.

·  Advanced the ISS Web site redesign project by creating information architecture and outline.

f.  Other initiatives

·  Developed a new visual identity for HMSC’s Visitor Center including signage, banners and window graphics.

·  Implemented new marketing and design strategies for OSU-Cascades Campus including a style guide, new Web site, all new print materials, campus sign, banners and advertising campaign.

·  Redesigned Science and College of Liberal Arts Web sites.

·  Unveiled OSU Economic Impact Web site and brochure, accompanied by promotion work to external media, resulting in new awareness of the university’s $1.5 billion annual footprint on the Oregon economy. Brochure was distributed to some 20,000 state and national addresses.

·  Launched Points of Pride Web site, making critical information on OSU’s key research, scholarship, teaching and alumni accomplishments, honors and rankings available in a single location.

·  Worked with Foundation to promote, successfully, launch of the Campaign for OSU to state and national media.

·  Hired a new Internal Communications Coordinator and continued work on Internal Communications Plan (building on last year’s reader survey and Internal Communications Advisory Committee work) that will be part of OSU’s new institution-wide Strategic Communications Plan.

·  Got approval for new OSU Crisis Communications Plan, including a new color-coded threat system that went into effect mid year and helped to win approval for new emergency text messaging system to help address crisis communication needs.

·  Hired Lipman Hearne to complete an opinion leader survey; conducted a university-wide communications assessment; collected student data and prepared for an Integrated Marketing Communications plan and strategy. Completed an RFP for a firm to help us develop the IMC.

·  Completed a university-wide assessment and survey of services and research offered in Portland.

·  Completed a readership survey of Terra.

·  Completed monthly media training sessions for faculty.

2. Unit Assessment – what worked, areas of improvement, major barriers

What worked:

·  “This is My OSU” campaign gave us a more strategic focus for our creative direction and messages.

·  Identified the need to promote our excellent teaching faculty – upcoming Mentors of OSU campaign to address this need.

·  Created a new UA staff orientation program that takes new employees through a welcoming introduction to the division and the university.

·  A visit to Washington, DC, by the AVP and VP resulted in new connections to NSF and new national media outlets.

·  A Terra readership survey indicated that Terra is an effective communications tool, but particularly to older donors.

·  New events created a sense of recognition and improved morale among faculty and staff.

·  Created a new department and through a national search hired a director to support Web Communications.

·  UA used carryover funds to enhance the signage, collateral and marketing efforts of two of its most visible locations – OSU Cascades Campus and Hatfield Marine Science Center.

·  The OSU Licensing program grew again this year, reaching nearly $1 million in revenue. UA has developed a new funding strategy with Athletics that provides Athletics with nearly 50 percent of the total revenue.

·  Sustained growth of media coverage realized in previous year. For example, in both April of 2007 and April of 2008, we tracked more than 1,900 stories through Vocus.

What needs improvement:

·  Distribution of Terra content to external OSU constituencies, such as legislators and businesses, is inconsistent.

·  Budget cuts affected our ability to market to out-of-state prospective students.

·  Web design process in need of streamlining and positions need realignment based on the new additions to the team.

·  Communications between Web teams and professionals around campus could be enhanced to promote sharing of resources and integrating support.

·  Number of events managed through University Events staff far exceeds staff capacity.

·  Internal communications on campus need to be enhanced to create a more communicative, sharing environment.

Barriers:

·  Staff time and skills to understand what businesses and policymakers need to know about OSU research and to develop effective marketing strategies that align with their needs.

·  Revitalizing and better organizing the NCS Web site will help us improve in 2008-09.

·  UA is in need of staff to support the growing number of events, the increased demand for writing and design services and a growing need to support campus-wide market research efforts.

·  Budget reductions were felt mostly in our ability to advertise and use paid efforts to promote the university.

3. Summary of major faculty and student awards

Faculty Recognition and Awards

·  In the last year, UA received seven awards from CASE District VIII including 3 Grand Gold and 2 national CASE Circle of Excellence awards.

·  For Terra editorial content and collaborative projects with another department in University Advancement, Research Communications entered regional and national competitions sponsored

by the Council for the Advancement of Education (CASE). The following awards were received:

o  CASE Gold in region VIII for story, “Winds of Change” in the summer 2007 Terra.

o  CASE Gold in region VIII for research ads (with OSU Marketing)

o  CASE Gold in region VIII for the “This is My OSU” poster series (with OSU Marketing)

o  National CASE Gold Award for the “This is My OSU” poster series (with OSU Marketing)

·  Focused attention on OSU faculty and student accomplishments through regular features in OSU This Week and OSU Today, including the Faces of OSU banner series and Kudos Corner.

4. Results and Outcomes

Initiatives to leverage E&G and other base resources and improve administrative efficiencies

·  Implementing social networking marketing techniques and viral marketing efforts that involve time resources but only small dollar expenditures.

·  Repurpose stories and photographs throughout all UA departments. We also share those with colleges and departments so they don’t have to spend their resources.

·  Licensing revenues increased 25% over the previous year. A portion of this revenue was used as seed funds for HMSC and OSU-Cascades Campus. UA reserves portions of licensing revenues each year to support various efforts. In the last year, revenue supported a Spanish-language financial aid seminar; bracelets and giveaways for Geoscience and Athletics youth activities; and a Capitol display of the geological history of Oregon.

·  Moved various Web sites into the Drupal content management system to more widely distribute Web site update ability, ensuring more current content. Conducted Drupal training to assist users in the function of the software.