Weekly Round-Up: Jan 20

Welcome to our first round-up of the new year! Here are a few of our favorite student achievements and articles of the week.

Achievements

• Morales Gonzalez Honored with a Gold Star at the Citadel
• Maxwell Hendricks Brings Medical Help and Hope From Marquette University to Honduran Families
• Binghamton Student Victoria Eckenrod will Compete in the National Finals of PricewaterhouseCoopers

Higher Ed Articles

•  Ed Osbourn of Eastern Connecticut State University explains how their strategic use of readabout.me (readMedia’s platform) has turned into a growth opportunity for brand communications.

• A growing number of universities and colleges are providing additional support to foster care students, reports USA Today.

• A report released this week by UMass Dartmouth (a readMedia client) shows that higher ed institutions are demonstrating a more strategic approach to their online communications.

Weekly Round-Up: December 2

Happy Friday! Can you believe it’s already December? Bring on the snow.

Here are some of our favorite student achievements and articles of the week:

Achievements

• Anthony Barranco Participates in St. Jude Fundraising Drive at Marist College (404 individual achievements)
• Jennifer Bolognani of Chicago is Among 112 Lewis University Nursing Students to Pass NCLEX Nursing Exam (44 individual achievements)
• Jana Lowe Honored as Davis & Elkins Senior Athlete (6 individual achievements)

Articles

• A report released this week by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California examines the factors that influence college graduation. [Education Week]
• Three in four Americans now say that college is too expensive for most people to afford. This article by The New York Times talks about how the Occupy movement protests helped push spiraling college costs into the national spotlight, again.

Weekly Round-Up: October 21

Happy Friday! This week we have some great scholarship achievements, an article about HigherEdWeb and a study released by NACAC.

Student Achievements:

Sheona Douglas Participates in Charitable Crohn’s and Colitis Walk at EASTERN (17 individual achievements)

Raymond Bierbach of Hunlock Creek Inducted into Economics Honors Society at Lycoming College ( 13 individual achievements)

Ashley Khan Receives Pathways to Excellence Scholarship from Notre Dame of Maryland University (17 individual achievements)

Articles you should read:

Last week, the Meet Content blog explored the role of public relations in higher ed by interviewing communicators from three institutions.

A study release by NACAC this week shows that more students are applying to more colleges, but that selectivity has remained fairly stable.

readMedia won’t be in Austin next week for HighEdWeb, but fortunately the team at Higher Ed Live has all non-attendees covered.

Weekly Round-Up: September 30

It’s time for our weekly round-up! We have three great student achievements (who wouldn’t want an achievement badge for competing in a rodeo?), a Higher Ed Live interview and an article on alumni communications.

Student Achievements

• Tyrel Virden Performs Well in Arizona for the Meslands Community College Rodeo Team (15 individual stories)

• Mike Cusumano Begins Student Teaching for Wilkes University (35 individual stories)

• Kristin Witcher Participates in Hendrix College Theatre Production (6 individual stories)

Things you shouldn’t miss

Higher Ed Live interviews Patrick Powers, Director of Digital Marketing and Communications at Webster University, on how the latest Facebook changes will impact Higher Education.

Are your students prepared for entry into their alumni association? Alumni Communications examines why it’s important to make the alumni association the start of a student’s journey with the university.

Weekly Round-Up: September 23

Welcome to the weekend! It’s time for out weekly round-up of cool student achievements and some of our favorite stories from the week.

Student achievements that caught my eye:

• Laura Acchiardo Joins Sorority at the University of Evansville  (122 individual stories)
• SCAD Student Kristen Albrecht Partners with The Limited to Launch New Jewelery Product Line (5 individual stories)
• Tyler Fisher chosen as UW-Platteville Resident Assistant (23 individual stories)

Stories you shouldn’t miss:

In an effort to reduce dependence on state funding and become more self-sustaining, the UC Davis chancellor has announced aggressive plans to increase student enrollment to 37,000, with a particular focus on attracting out-of-state students who pay more in tuition. [Sacramento Bee]

Rob Zinkhan of Indiana University East interviews Ohio State University president E. Gordon Gee, and asks him about changes coming to higher education and how colleges can leverage the power of social media.

Women’s Colleges are adapting and creating alternatives programs to boost enrollment and revenue, reports the Chronicle of Higher Ed. Mentioned in the article are several readMedia clients, including Wilson College, Wellesley, Chestnut Hill, Randolph-Macon, Peace, Wells, and Agnes Scott College.

Weekly Round-Up: September 16

Happy Friday! Can you believe it’s already mid-September? I can’t.

My favorite student success stories from the week:

• Destanni Goodsby Elected to McMurry University Student Government Position
• Dalton Russell Prepares for Northwest’s Fall Musical
• Ashley Smith Received Award for Artwork at Buffalo State

Two articles that you should read:

How can departmental faculty get involved with student recruitment, especially at liberal arts colleges? W. Kent Barnds, VP of Enrollment at Augustana College (a readMedia client), outlines several strategies in this post.

The annual college rankings are out from US News & World Report, and with them the usual flurry of opinions denouncing rankings (while simultaneously touting them on college promotional materials). Jeff Selingo, editorial director of The Chronicle of Higher Education, writes at Huffington Post about the barriers to breaking away from this rankings system.

Weekly Round-Up: Sept 9

It’s time for our weekly round-up of student success stories and articles you shouldn’t miss!

Student success stories

• Huntingdon College welcomes all incoming freshmen (552 individual stories)

• Ashland University students make the football team (52 individual stories)

• Western New England announces Peer Advising team (46 individual stories)

Articles of the week

It’s nearly time for US News to release its annual list of college rankings, and Dan Thomasson from the Minneapolis Star Tribune opines on why the rankings are useless.

Not only do undergraduates need help navigating the job market after college, but graduate students do, too. A new group will examine ways to improve job placement for graduate students.

Going to class is only part of the college experience. Students who participate in clubs and extracurriculars can meet new friends and have a more well-rounded experience. Even if it’s something like the Squirrel Club. The Detroit Free Press looks at odd and interesting student clubs on campus.

Weekly Round-Up: August 26

It’s time for our weekly round-up of student achievement stories and articles you shouldn’t miss!

Student achievements:

• Quinnipiac University: Students Spend week in Nicaragua

• Georgia Southern University: Students Selected for Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges

Articles:

Noel-Levitz strategist Lew Sanborne discusses the importance of communicating with currently enrolled students, and not just focusing all efforts on prospectives.

Many colleges seeking to improve retention rates have focused on the “First Year Experience” and in this Washington Post article, La Sierra University discusses how they’ve implemented early orientation for freshmen to get them engaged early.

Mike Petroff of Emerson College (a readMedia client) posts on .eduGuru about the differences he noticed in Facebook engagement among incoming class of 2015 students between groups, pages and apps.

The Weekly Round-Up: July 29

It’s Friday and you know what that means: it’s time for our weekly round-up!

Noteworthy student success stories:

• The Citadel: Students earn leadership positions
• University of the Southwest: Student-athletes cited for high GPA
• Saint Michael’s College: Students receive grants to do specialized research with professors

Worth checking out:

• Rebranding in higher ed: Seth Odell’s popular HigherEdLive show filmed from readMedia’s offices last Sunday! Watch the recap of his discussion on rebranding with Rachel Reuben of Ithaca College (another readMedia client!).

• Brands should focus more on friends of their fans, and aim for a “ripple effect” through their network’s newsfeed, according to a new study from Facebook and ComScore. The study focuses on corporate brands but has implications for higher ed, as well.

• A study from UMass-Dartmouth (a readMedia client!) looks at adoption rates of social media and how colleges are using new technologies for recruiting in a networked world.

• TeensTALK: How does the college search process really work for high schoolers? A summary from UM-Flint’s Alaina Wiens on the frank discussion from a 15-student panel at the Stamats conference.

• Juniata College (yes, a readMedia client!) President Tom Kepple blogs at The Washington Post on how colleges can avoid “fad marketing” in social media and instead create memorable, authentic interactions that are lack the sometimes stilted-ness of academe.

Image credit: Flickr user FL4Y