Outreach and Engagement Visiting Scholars Program
Project Description
The Office of University Outreach and Engagement sponsors the Outreach and Engagement Visiting Scholars series, designed to provide opportunities for faculty and students to engage in informal discussions with visiting faculty regarding their efforts to address societal issues. The College of Human Ecology, College of Law, and College of Social Science collaborated on this event. The first program was held in March 2005 and was an official Michigan State University Sesquicentennial Event.
Communication and Information Technology (CIT) provided full service leadership for event planning, message development, audience identification, and integrated communication implementation.
Patricia Brantingham, director of the Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies and co-director of the Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies Laboratory and Paul Brantingham, co-director of the Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies Laboratory were Visiting Scholars from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, for the 2005 series.
The Visiting Scholars Program was a two-day event involving multiple activities with MSU faculty and students, as well as a public forum with expert panel discussion from community participants. The communications planning had two strategic objectives:
1. Communicate to the internal MSU audience, including students, faculty, staff, and administration
CIT contacted the communication managers in the three colleges collaborating on the Visiting Scholars series and arranged coordinated postings of all communications messages, including Web site announcements, individualized invitations to activities with the Brantinghams, and printed materials including posters and public forum flyers.
CIT posted Visiting Scholars announcements on the MSU Calendar of Events, and issued a press release for distribution by University Relations, the official news and information source for MSU events. CIT wrote and distributed a Public Service Announcement to the campus public broadcasting station (WKAR), and the student-run campus radio station (WDBM).
In addition, CIT designed and paid for an advertisement in the State News the day prior to the Visiting Scholars Public Forum.
2. Communicate externally to select mid-Michigan targeted audiences, as well as the general public
CIT implemented printed invitations to select audiences, including area law enforcement, school superintendents, school officials, community leaders, and interested media, for the public forum presentation and an expert panel discussion. Postings were submitted for community events calendars at television stations Channel 6 (WLNS) and Channel 10 (WILX). The news release was sent to television Channels 4, 6, 10, 47, and 53 and the Lansing State Journal and Towne Courier newspapers.
Implementation strategies used included the following:
Message development
Graphic design
Color selection, typeface and logo placement, and coordinated 'look' of print and Web site materials for the Visiting Scholars invitations, Web site announcements, posters, and flyers
Writing and editorial expertise
Creation and oversight of text for all written materials
Audience identification
List development
Strategic selection of key MSU and public audiences with an interest in urban environmental crime, including law enforcement, school officials, community activists, and the media that cover those crimes
Database development and maintenance
Mailing list database designed to communicate to audiences for individual or multiple activities with the Visiting Scholars event, including mass invitations to the public forum
Event planning
Multiple site logistic planning
Worked with the collaborating College of Human Ecology, College of Law, and College of Social Science. Space and equipment for student/faculty/staff meetings and interactions with the Brantinghams
Public forum logistical planning
Planning and oversight of the biggest event of the Visiting Scholars Series, held at the Kellogg Center Auditorium
Meals, entertainment, and local sights planning
A welcome packet for the Brantinghams, as well as information and direction about local activities
On-site conference and information technology support
Set-up to accommodate the speakers' laptop computer presentation; microphones, podium, and collateral materials for presenters and panel participants; signage for general public
Back to top
