Communications and Marketing, spring 2023

The Division of Communications and Marketing has made it a priority to incorporate what has been learned from higher-education marketing firm Carnegie into University messaging across the board that allows us to use confident, empowering language in all of our print materials as well as through what we publish in BingUNews.

Our support continued this quarter in preparing for the president’s State of the University address, as well as for key messages from the president and provost. Some of those messages included announcing the founding director for the new School of the Arts, and coverage of the unveiling of the first marker for the Downtown Freedom Trail on Harriet Tubman Day, as well as coverage of the governor’s announcement of $400,000 for the trail project and $100,000 from the city of Binghamton for the project.

Not to be overlooked, the communications managers for each school continue to work with Creative Services to produce quality magazines that are sent to alumni and friends, showcasing the work being done in our schools and our impact on the region.

Creative Services

In addition to the myriad stationary, fact sheets, postcards, posters and other projects that were completed, the Office of Creative Services produced a number of high-level publications, from design through printing this quarter. Among the highlights were:

• An undergraduate admissions viewbook for out-of-state students
• Remedies magazine for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Materials for President Harvey Stenger’s State of the University address
• The annual Financial and Budget Report
• The initial work on four Commencement programs (undergraduate, master’s, pharmacy and doctoral)

Web work also consumed a great deal of time for our designers and developers. Major projects included:

• Digital advertising campaigns (creation, monitoring, optimizing, landing pages)
• Search engine optimization reports and suggestions
• Slate support for both undergraduate and graduate enrollment management efforts
• Undergraduate/graduate recruitment email development and support
• Maintaining the health of binghamton.edu including reviewing and updating broken links, meta data, spelling, grammar, OU account training, account creation, account deletion and handling requests from campus partners
• An upgrade to Dateline to denote when new announcements appear in the email distribution

Enrollment marketing efforts

Yield marketing efforts

Admissions continues to release decisions and Communications and Marketing supports all yield efforts that include:

• Honors programs: FRI, Source, PwC, University Scholars. EY Student Leaders and Watson Scholars. The communications included a mailed invitation from the president and a packet; a landing page with general info about the program and how to enroll; and several emails (follow-ups from program directions, current-student emails, etc.).
• Receptions for admitted students and their families – email invites for these OOS events.
• Admitted Student Days – Communications and Marketing designed the electronic invites, conducted digital campaigns to promote these events that will take place in April

*New* brochure

We are gradually integrating the Carnegie “voice” and design into our print and digital communications. Our first fully “Carnegerized” piece is in design. It’s a mailer that will be sent to OOS high-school juniors. Target date is April.

Other communications for prospective students

The high-school junior and sophomore communication streams continue with monthly emails sent to these cohorts.

Social media

The Undergraduate Admissions Instagram and Facebook accounts both saw an increase in followers this quarter: Facebook +3% and Instagram +1%. With a new intern team running the socials, our content has included new and high-quality images with appealing content ranging from student success stories, student resources to campus activities and new additions to campus. With more members on our team, our accounts are actively producing content on all channels three to four times a week, increasing our engagement and reach. Likewise, our team is adopting Carnegie strategy into our language and content. In the upcoming weeks, we have several Instagram takeovers (three) of current students who will be doing Q&As, days-in-the-life, etc. Our team is gearing up for National College Decision Day leading up to the May 1 enrollment deadline, one of our biggest campaigns of the year. We will be partnering with the Bookstore and Binghamton University Dining Services for a giveaway that has yielded thousands of likes and engagement in previous years. Throughout the week our interns will be actively posting fun facts about Binghamton, interactive content, appealing photos of campus, student testimonials, etc. This campaign will likely bring in a large increase in our following and student activity within the upcoming month.

Media and Public Relations

Binghamton University faculty made a major impact in the media for their research and expertise, landing hits with The Atlantic, The New York Post, Time, NPR and other noteworthy outlets. From a data project that ranks how well countries around the globe protect human rights to using biodegradable paper circuit boards to make single-use electronics more environmentally-friendly, our faculty helped to bring Binghamton into the spotlight and showcase their expertise and the quality of research taking place at the University. Beyond research, Binghamton’s Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Donald Hall penned an op-ed that appeared in the Miami Herald and elsewhere, touting Binghamton as a vital and welcoming campus for students and faculty who may feel disenfranchised by Florida institutions.

Binghamton expanded its capabilities to connect with and share its story with media outlets around the world with a major studio update. The University upgraded its cutting-edge ReadyCam television studio system, with support from Dr. Roger Mills-Gilbert ’76, to include Zoom functionality for both local and national broadcast TV interviews at a moment’s notice.

The University produced a number of impactful videos this quarter. The College of Community and Public Affairs got a brand-new tour video, highlighting the school’s programs, faculty, experiential learning and more. Faculty across the University were featured in new Faculty Focus videos. Newly added faculty include: Assistant Professor Kerry Whigham, whose research focuses on the mechanisms behind genocide and how prevention requires a better understanding of the lingering effects genocide causes throughout history; and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Shahrzad “Sherry” Towfighian, who is helping to develop smart knee replacements that will provide valuable pressure sensing data for patients and doctors.

We celebrated Black History Month by highlighting noteworthy individuals and events through new blogs (“Black Binghamton University Alumni You Should Know About” and “Celebrating Black History Month at Binghamton”) and a Q&A highlighting successful Black alumni.

For Women’s History Month, we asked the University community to nominate their favorite female leaders and included them in a blog titled “26 Impactful Women at Binghamton University.” The newly installed Harriet Tubman historical marker on the Downtown Binghamton Freedom Trail was also highlighted through social media posts, which garnered positive comments on Harriet Tubman Day and beyond.

The University asked the Binghamton community to share their love stories, which were highlighted in our popular annual Valentine’s Day blog: “Will You “B” Mine? 43 Couples Who Found Love at Binghamton.” The blog was well-received and has garnered 8,000+ page views thus far.

President Harvey Stenger gave his annual State of the University Address, during which he announced an anonymous donor gift of $37.5 million for academic support. The University live-tweeted the event and later posted a BingUNews story and video on social media.

The University asked its followers to nominate their favorite Binghamton pizzerias and received a plethora of responses. On National Pizza Day, the University posted a fun video featuring Binghamton TikTok star Owen Holland stopping by the winning pizzeria.

National news coverage

Plamen Nikolov, assistant professor of economics, was featured in Business Insider, The New York Post, Yahoo!Finance, MSN.com, Daily Mail, IFL Science and various news outlets for his research that showed that retiring early may accelerate cognitive decline.

David Cingranelli, professor of political science and co-director of the Human Rights Institute, was featured in Time, Yahoo!News, MSN.com and Yahoo!News Canada for an article about how Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership of his historically Black fraternity while attending Binghamton University helped to shape his career.

Elizabeth Tucker, distinguished service professor of English, general literature and rhetoric, was featured in The Atlantic and MSN.com, in an article that discussed folkloric ways to conjure a snow day.

Gretchen Mahler, professor of biomedical engineering, was featured in The New York Post and The Hour for her research that showed how food coloring nanoparticles may affect the human gut.

Yizeng Li, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, was featured in The Conversation, Popular Science and Yahoo!News for her research into how cancer cells move and metastasize.

David Campbell, professor of public administration, was featured in Fortune, MSN.com, The Conversation, The Hour, Yahoo!News and other publications, for an article that examines where the money goes when billionaires like Bill Gates give “virtually all” their wealth away.

Seokheun Choi, professor of electrical and computer engineering, was featured in Yahoo!News for his research into making single-use electronics more environmentally-friendly with biodegradable paper circuit boards.

Shay Rabineau, associate professor of Israel studies and associate director of the Center for Israel Studies, was featured in The Conversation and Yahoo!News, where he discussed how Tu BiShvat, the ancient Jewish ‘new year for trees,’ became an Israeli celebration of nature.

Adam Laats, education historian and professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership, was featured by NPR, The Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed and The Academic Minute, where he discussed several topics related to education, including the pushback against racial and gender studies in American schools, how school board meetings have become “war zones” at which parents fight over hot-button issues and more.

David Cingranelli, professor of political science and co-director of the Human Rights Institute, was featured in The Conversation and Yahoo!News, where he discussed a data project that ranks how well countries around the globe protect human rights.

Liz Rosenberg, professor of English, general literature and rhetoric, was featured in The Conversation, The Associated Press and Fortune, in an article that highlighted five perfect books to read over the winter holidays.

Anne Bailey, professor of history and director of the Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity, was featured by Seventeen, Yahoo!Lifestyle, and AOL News, in an article about the Black History Month colors and what they mean.

Kerry Whigham, assistant professor of genocide and mass atrocity prevention, and co-director of the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, was featured in The Conversation, Inside Higher Ed and the Academic Minute on WAMC, where he discussed how genocides persist and recognized ways to help prevent them.

Lina Begdache, associate professor of health and wellness studies, was featured in The Conversation, where she discussed how shorter days affect the mood of millions of Americans and offered tips on how to avoid the winter blues. Total circulation: Over 10.7 million.