Annual Report 2007-08

Department Mission
Department Goals
Example of How Department Used Assessment
General Statement of Department Condition
Departmental Achievements
Staff Productivity
Student Achievements
Other Awards, Distinctions and Achievements

Departmental Mission

The Office of Communications and Marketing provides innovative, professional communications, and promotes and supports university programs to expand the public’s awareness of the University of West Georgia

Department Goals

I. The Office of University Communications and Marketing will provide accurate, timely promotion and coverage of campus events, programs and achievements, utilizing all appropriate media outlets.

University Mission: UWG is committed to the following areas of excellence: a broad range of public service activities and proactive partnerships to promote more effective use of human and natural resources; to contribute to economic, social and technical development; and to enhance the quality of life within the University’s scope of influence.

Bread and Butter Goals: #4 Public Relations and #7 External Relations

II. The Office of University Communications and Marketing will provide professional photographic services that support the news, publications and marketing needs of university departments.

Bread and Butter Goals: #2 Enrollment Management, #4 Public Relations, #7 External Relations

III. The Office of University Communications and Marketing will create data-driven marketing campaigns to assist in recruiting qualified students and fostering goodwill in support of fundraising.

University Mission: UWG is committed to the following areas of excellence: regional outreach through a collaborative network of external degree centers, course offerings at off-campus sites, and an extensive program of continuing education for personal and professional development; and affirmation of the equal dignity of each person by valuing cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender diversity in students, faculty, and staff.

Bread and Butter Goals: #2 Enrollment Management, #4 Public Relations, #7 External Relations, #11 Capital Campaign

IV. The Office of University Communications and Marketing will provide creative writing and design services for advertisements and marketing packages.

Bread and Butter Goals: #2 Enrollment Management, #4 Public Relations, #7 External Relations, #11 Capital Campaign

V. The Office of University Communications and Marketing will coordinate specific university-wide events, which include commencement ceremonies, building groundbreakings and dedications, PREP, TIP, and others.

Bread and Butter Goals: #4 Public Relations, #7 External Relations, #8 Regional collaboration for economic and community development, #11 Capital Campaign

VI. The Office of University Communications and Marketing will provide helpful and friendly initial contact information and scheduled group tours for visitors.

Bread and Butter Goals: #2 Enrollment Management, #4 Public Relations, #7 External Relations

Example of How Department Used the Assessment to Change/Improve a Process

Believing that decisions based on research result in more strategic direction, UCM conducted a readership survey for the bi-weekly faculty/staff newsletter, The Campus Chronicle, that was distributed as a hard copy. The results revealed a total of 125 votes for some form of electronic publication, 2 votes for either printed or electronic, and 2 no preference, versus only 66 for a printed publication, so we chose to produce an electronic publication.

Although there was only a small margin of preference for an online publication over an e-mail, we chose to produce an online publication because varying computer and e-mail software programs make it difficult to produce e-mail publications that can be seen by all readers in the same way and because an online publication offered more possibilities for increased and varied news coverage and appealing design.

General Statement of Department Condition

To continue to meet the integrated marketing goal of increasing the visibility and enhancing the image and reputation of UWG among identified key audiences with a special emphasis on the metro Atlanta market, the staff continues to produce high quality advertisements, photography, publications, media releases and web content and design. Heightened exposure requires additional man-hours in cultivating media contacts, preparation of ads, professional magazine design and art direction, etc. The needs of the department focuses on the addition of a graphic designer to assist the current associate director in meeting these demands. UCM now regularly is asked to design marketing materials for frequent fundraising campaigns for buildings and other university and development needs. We also intend to have more input into the writing and design of recruitment and retention materials needed for UWG’s increasing focus on enrollment management.

As in most areas on campus, this staff is “one deep” in almost all areas of responsibility. Cross-training is conducted for emergency situations but daily productivity continues to rely heavily on just one staff member per area of expertise which increases the stress level of the workplace. The coordination of commencement ceremonies has been complicated by a good problem to have – larger graduating classes requiring multiple ceremonies in a smaller venue. Traditionally, the university conducted a total of four ceremonies per academic year and in 2007/2008, we conducted 10 ceremonies. With the new Coliseum coming online in January, the staff will coordinate a completely new commencement arrangement. Special events coordination will continue to increase as groundbreakings and open houses are conducted in conjunction with new facility funding. For the 2007-08 year, the assistant vice president of the department assumed the role of co-interim vice president of the division while maintaining her current responsibilities to the department and to campus-wide committee service. This certainly challenged her to stretch her leadership abilities and to ask a great deal of the UCM staff to function without her daily presence. The staff demonstrated the professional standards of which no one was in doubt.

Departmental Achievements

Lisa Ledbetter, Assistant Vice President:

In addition to her duties as head of the department, Lisa Ledbetter served the President and the institution as co-interim vice president for the division of University Advancement with direct responsibility for UCM and Publications and Printing. During this period, P&P purchased and installed the largest single piece of equipment that printing services has obtained: a four-color press. Lisa contributed to the institution’s mission through participation in the President’s Advisory Council, budget planning that included both over-realized tuition and budget cuts, the hiring of several senior leadership positions, and the daily administration of the institution.
Lisa Ledbetter and the staff supported the fundraising efforts for the athletic complex by implementing the marketing strategy which included designing and producing printed direct mail materials, faculty/staff campaign materials, web site, magazine features, etc. New materials were designed and written for the Fourth Quarter Campaign.
Lisa Ledbetter and the staff planned and coordinated numerous university events, including the UWG Centennial Time Capsule Ceremony, the first UWG memorial service, 10 commencement ceremonies, two Duke University TIP Recognition Ceremonies, groundbreaking ceremonies for the Callaway Building and the Coliseum, and one posthumous degree ceremony.
The institution hosted the October meeting of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and UCM was responsible for the coordination of the entire 3-day visit including scheduling facilities, meals, hotel accommodations, tours, entertainments, guests, technology, hospitality, transportation, etc. The visit was considered a tremendous success for the campus. Lisa Ledbetter was the sole source of accountability for the event.
Lisa Ledbetter and the staff supported the launch of the new Live Art series through marketing initiatives, logo design, etc.
The staff redesigned the departmental Web site, adding expanded information about current and new services, as well as an online method for faculty and staff to contribute information about news and events for publicity purposes.
The staff provided marketing support for A DAY for West Georgia. Tricia Herndon designed a brochure, logo, letterhead, poster, balloon, 10 invitations, four promotional ads and one thank-you ad for the campaign.

Tricia Herndon, associate director:

Became Josh’s supervisor and gave him intensive training in the management of the Division of Advancement’s publications: Perspective, Developments, Red and Blue Banner and the UWG Foundation Annual Report and Honor Roll.
Undertook even more responsibility for design of these periodicals in response to the lack of quality design work available.
Designed an online version of the Campus Chronicle faculty and staff newsletter with content input from UCM and University Advancement staff, and Steven Broome converted it to HTML for Web publication. Since January 2008, Kathy Wagstaff serves as the managing editor role for the now completely online publication, and Julie Lineback publishes the content for each issue to the Web.
As part of the department’s continuing implementation of the university’s integrated marketing plan, Tricia refined the wording of the university’s four key marketing messages and integrated them into the university’s advertising materials.
As part of the department’s continuing implementation of the university’s visual identity program, Tricia created informational materials about official university typefaces for publication on the Department of Publications and Printing Web site. Lisa Ledbetter and Tricia also provided oversight of requests for revisions of the Wolves logo to maintaining the integrity of athletics logo design.
Coordinated the program for all commencement ceremonies and most special events.
Served as creative director and ad designer for two issues of the biannual fundraising magazine, Developments; two issues of the biannual alumni magazine, Perspective; and the UWG Foundation Annual Report and Honor Roll. As part of completing Josh Sewell’s training as advancement publications coordinator, she also did final editing of these publications and seven issues of the Red and Blue Banner. Steven Broome provided photography, and the staff wrote the majority of copy for these publications.
Created university advertisements for strategic placement in such state and regional publications as Georgia Trend, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta Magazine, Gwinnett Magazine, James Magazine, Georgia Magazine, Newnan-Coweta Magazine and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as the Newsweek Annual Education issue and the international Turkish Student magazine. She also designed advertisements for placement in local newspapers’ special sections, in Chamber of Commerce magazines for Georgia and for Haralson and Newnan-Coweta counties, and for various community publications and materials, including the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce map, the American Cancer Society Relay program, the Ferst Foundation Bike Ride program and a Carrollton Police LAW publication for local schoolchildren.
Designed a series of five recruitment advertisements for the College of Education for placement in PAGE ONE, the magazine of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. She also designed advertising for such units as the Graduate School, the Richards College of Business, Nursing, and Special Education and Speech-Language Pathology.
The staff provided text and photography for university inserts in one national guide (Peterson’s Guide to Four-Year Colleges) and two regional guides (BellSouth Yellow Pages and Yellow Book), as well as university profiles for local newspapers’ special sections and Web sites of various organizations and publications, including the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Gwinnett Magazine.
Designed marketing materials for various university programs, including a logo, letterhead, advertising and postcard for Live Art at the Townsend Center, a logo for the UWG/Carroll County Schools Early College Program, a business card template for university students and advertising for the Graduate School, and provided editorial assistance and design consultation for various department’s marketing needs.
Tricia Herndon and Lisa Ledbetter assisted with writing for the 2008-09 Admissions undergraduate recruitment viewbook. Tricia provided design consultation for the viewbook and the 2008-09 Admissions international recruitment brochure.

Steven Broome, assistant director:

Logged 613 photo jobs/assignments from July 1, 2007 – June 31, 2008. These included on-location photographic coverage for various special events, athletic events, UWG concerts, UWG Theatre performances and University Advancement events; as well as studio photography for various UWG clients including faculty, staff, student organizations, alumni and other special projects. These photos found use in various UWG publications, including athletic media guides, academic departmental brochures, administrative departmental brochures, admissions recruitment materials, UWG main website, Graduate and Undergraduate catalogs, UWG Advancement publications, UCM generated advertisements, the online stock photo gallery; and local, regional and student hometown news releases.
Coded the online version of the Campus Chronicle based on designs by Tricia Herndon.
Updated the universitywide stock photo gallery and increased its offerings with the assistance of photography student assistant, William Hogan
Researched, developed and acquired the necessary equipment to install an arena lighting system for the new Health & Wellness Center, which will provide superior still-photography lighting for arena events.
Maintained and updated the Alumni Stadium Campaign website and designed and maintained website for the Greek Gala.
Worked with Alumni Relations to produce the Red & Blue Banner electronic newsletter for UWG alumni.
Supervised and worked closely with the Web Content Manager, Julie Lineback, to continue development of RedDot CMS for various university websites.
Served as backup for the Web Content Manager to publish the UWG Daily Report and Campus Chronicle in her absence.

Kathy Wagstaff, assistant director for news services:

Produce and edit the new online Campus Chronicle for UWG faculty and staff
Refresh the UWG website home page with new stories and photographs; produce most of the feature and news stories used on the website.
Produce copy for regional media outlets.
Coordinated a guest appearance for CNN on campus for “The Larry King Show.”
Produced a feature on undergraduate research for a Georgia Trend publication
Compiled data and statistics for Atlanta Magazine, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Georgia Trend, the Atlanta Business Chronicle and other regional publications
Provided a daily online news service to campus senior administrators, faculty and staff
Produced publicity for the Townsend Center that contributed to a sold out season\
Reinstituted the “Donate a Published Book to the Ingram Library” publicity program with faculty and staff
Coordinated press coverage and interviews with Newt Gingrich on his visit to campus; met and planned with committee on the Gingrich American Solutions event; and attended the event to help as needed.
Arranged and produced television interviews on UTV-13 for nationally and internationally renowned guests on campus that included Newt Gingrich, the Reverend Dr. Eddie Glaude, anthropologist Dr. Constanza Ceruti and Paul Guest, poet.
Arranged GPB radio interview with campus guest Doug Lansky that was broadcast on “The Georgia Gazette.”
Helped publicize the UWG faculty visit to Japan throughout the Kagoshima University and the Kagoshima community
Initiated and arranged several radio shows with UWG guests on local radio network
Attended Atlanta Press Club luncheons and Author Holiday Gala in Atlanta
Provided talking points for Dr. Hynes and Dr. Sethna to use for their commencement ceremony speeches

Julie Lineback, web content manager:

Converted the following sites to RedDot content management system: UCM, Presidents Office, Association for Retired Faculty and Staff, Advocates, University Advancement
Consulted with the following departments regarding their content and/or helped them convert to RedDot: Townsend Center, Alumni and Development, VPAA
Helped to convert The Campus Chronicle from print to Web
Created and produces the UWG Daily Report, a daily source of UWG news/events

Josh Sewell, coordinator of university advancement publications:

Wrote copy, edited, and oversaw the production for two issues of the donor stewardship magazine, Developments, two issues of the alumni magazine, Perspective, and the annual report of the UWG Foundation, Honor Roll
Assisted with the development of the marketing pieces for the annual fund campaign and A DAY for West Georgia
Assisted with writing and editing of in-house promotional material for Development and Alumni Relations events and activities

Sheryl Marlar, coordinator of office services

Assumed responsibilities for coordinating and conducting campus tours for groups providing guided tours to more than 200 middle school students in 2007-08.

Staff Productivity

Lisa Ledbetter, Assistant Vice President
Campus and Community Service:
Chair, Web Redesign Committee
Senior Marketing Team
Campus Marketing and Communications Team
Stadium Development Committee
Co-Chair of Recruitment and Marketing Sub-committee for Enrollment Management
Commencement Task Force
Homeland Security Committee
Institutional Studies and Planning Committee
Strategic Planning Committee
Facilities Advisory and Planning Committee
Strategic Planning for UWG Parking Committee
Member of Penelope Melson Library Society
Served on campus search committees for the following positions: VP for University Advancement, Ombuds Coordinator, and Governmental Relations Coordinator
Attend all meetings of the West Georgia Foundation Board of Trustees
Atlanta Regional Committee of Higher Education (ARCHE)
Georgia Education Advancement Council (GEAC) Conference Planning Committee
GEAC Board of Directors
Guest Lecturer for Public Relations class for Mass Communications
Member of Carroll County Pandemic Flu Planning Committee (District 4)
West Georgia Business Women’s Alliance
Carrollton Rotary Club Board of Directors
Carrollton Convention and Visitors Center Board of Directors
Carroll County Communication Professionals Group
Professional Development:
Attended the Winter and Summer conferences of the Georgia Education Advancement Council
Attended the Winter and Summer meetings of the Public Relations Administrative Committee of the University System of Georgia
Attended Risk Management training on identifying, assessing and managing risk on the job and in our departments.

Tricia Herndon, Assistant Director
Campus and Community Service:
University Visual Identity Committee
Student Work Advisory Committee
Campus Marketing and Communications Team
Departmental coordinator for the A DAY for West Georgia Faculty/Staff Drive
Professional Development:
Attended Georgia Education Advancement Council winter and summer conferences.
Completed five online training seminars through Dynamic Graphics magazine: “Project Management for Designers,” “Color Management in Print and Internet Workflows,” “Design Principles for Direct Marketing,” “Web Design Trends for ’08” and “A Type Design Process.”

Steven Broome, Assistant Director
Campus and Community Service:
UWG Web Redesign Committee
Faculty Senate Technology Planning Committee
Guest lecturer for two Media and Instructional Technology courses
Instructor for five Continuing Education courses
Professional Development:
Attended Georgia Education Advancement Council winter conference

Kathy Wagstaff, Assistant Director for News Services
Campus and Community Service:
Mentor for BMWI students assigned to the MLK Distinguished Lecture Series
Guest lecturer for a public relations Mass Communications class
Helped pomp the UWG parade float
Water Conference Committee
Pandemic Flu Communication Committee, District 4
UWG Pandemic Flu Planning Committee
Faculty/Staff Friday Social Committee
Assisted students working at the West Georgian student newspaper
Kiwanis International - Carrollton, board member and committee chair
Kiwanis International - Carrollton reporter and photographer for the statewide Arts and Talent Showcase
Kiwanis photographer for the annual Football Tournaments
Dr. Suess Day reader for elementary school students
League of Women Voters member and election forum moderator
Atlanta Press Club member
American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
Atlanta Regional Committee of Higher Education (ARCHE)Public Relations Administrators Committee (PRAC)
Georgia Educators Administrators Committee (GEAC)
Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)
Professional Development:
Attended meetings of the Public Relations Administrators Committee (PRAC)
Attended Georgia Educators Administrators Committee (GEAC) fall and summer conferences
Attended the spring CASE conference in Atlanta
Attended Risk Management training on identifying, assessing and managing risk on the job and in our departments.

Julie Lineback, Web Content Manager
Campus and Community Service:
Web Redesign Committee
Interim Services Director/Interim Infrastructure Director Hiring Committee
Microsoft Office 2007 Committee
Professional Development:
Attended Georgia Education Advancement Council winter and summer conferences
Webinar: Building Websites with High Impact
Webinar: Killer Content – Get to Know Your Users and Deliver the Information that Really Matters

Josh Sewell, Coordinator of Advancement Publications
Professional Development:
Attended Georgia Education Advancement Council winter and summer conferences

Student Achievements

Student hired as a newspaper reporter as a direct result of the experience gained in this office.

Students had stories published in regional newspapers with their bylines and have substantial portfolios as a result.

Other Awards, Distinctions and Achievements

UCM shares the recognition with our colleagues in University Advancement for the 2007 District III CASE Award of Excellence for Educational Fund Raising Projects for the Stadium Fundraising Campaign.

We won two APEX Awards for Publication Excellence:
2008 Award of Excellence for Special Purpose Campaigns, Programs and Plans for the Stadium Fundraising Campaign

2008 Award of Excellence for Annual Report Design and Layout for the 2006 UWG Foundation Annual Report and Honor Roll of Donors

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