The Department of Communications and Marketing has received five Accolades awards from the Council for the Advancement of Secondary Education (CASE) for the 2012-13 academic year.
The department won gold in the category of blogs for Union Unfiltered. Overseen by Jason Slater ’02, associate director of web communications, the blog is produced by current students to showcase authentic examples of what life is like as a Union student to aid in the recruitment process. There is no moderation or censorship of the bloggers’ content.
The University of Waterloo took silver and the University of Rochester received an honorable mention.
For annual institutional reports, Union received silver for the 2011-12 President’s Report, “Think. Connect. Act.’’ The project was led by Jill Hungsberg, the department’s former senior director, and Charlie Casey, senior editor of News and Publications, with contributions from the staff. The Smithsonian Institution took gold and the University of Toronto, bronze.
In the category of Excellence in News Writing, the College took bronze for stories on the College's news site. Stories that originally appeared on the site helped enhance Union's national reputation by attracting coverage in media outlets including the Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, USA Today, University Business magazine and others.
Princeton took gold and the University of Rochester, silver.
The news team includes Phil Wajda, director of Media Relations, and Christen Gowan, assistant director of Media Relations and Social Media. Contributors include Tina Lincer, associate director of Communications.
The department also collected bronze for Best Staff Writing, based on a collection of stories in the Union College magazine. The magazine is overseen by Casey and Erin DeMuth Judd, associate editor of Publications.
The articles included: “Colorfully crafting change: A Minerva Fellowship brings autonomy to Bagru Artisans” (Fall 2012); “Can fungi replace plastics? Maybe, if Ecovative Design has its way”(Winter 2013); “Could less O2 mean smaller bugs?” (Winter 2013); “How a tube becomes a heart”(Spring 2013); and “Of doves and men” (Spring 2013).
Bard College won gold and McDaniel College, silver.
In addition, “200 Years of the Union Campus" was honored with bronze in the category of special purpose website. Spearheaded by Web Director Kenneth George, the multimedia-rich site commemorated the bicentennial of the plan for America's first architecturally designed campus in 1812-13.
At the time, the design by visiting French architect Joseph Ramée was the most ambitious and innovative plan for an American college or university, one that helped shape the future of other campuses. In announcing their selection, the CASE judges singled out the website's overall design and interactive timeline illustrating the growth of the College across the centuries.
The web team includes Slater ’02 and Erik Espana ’99, web manager.
West Virginia University took gold, while Hobart and William Smith Colleges was awarded silver.
Communications and Marketing is overseen by Gail Glover, senior director.
Union will receive the awards at the CASE conference in Baltimore Feb. 10.
CASE is the leading professional association for educational advancement professionals, including those who work in alumni relations, communications, marketing and fundraising.