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Communications Policies

These policies are not meant to be comprehensive, but cover most situations where SOE employees and students may be communicating with other audiences as a part of their role. Policies, procedures, and guidelines provide a roadmap to deliver the message that great things are happening at the School of Education. The Office of Marketing, Communications, & Events (MCE) works in concert with the Office of the Dean, the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations, and the Office of Academic and Student Services to set goals around which the public image of the School is represented.

Accessibility

Because of federal and student loan funding, Syracuse University and the School of Education are required to comply with federal disability and accessibility law and regulation including The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section, Section 504, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The School of Education supports this policy by requiring all faculty and staff to take a “beyond compliance” approach in routine communications such as email, and the creation of Word, Excel, and .pdf documents.

Tutorials are available at answers.syr.edu on creating accessible emails, print materials, electronic materials, and web content. ITS also holds regular training sessions on these topics. MCE staff can provide training or consultation on accessible document creation or conversion.

Design Services

Coordination of design, print, and production of all documents and publications intended for external audiences should be produced/approved through MCE.

  • Requests for projects to be coordinated and/or produced through MCE are prioritized based on the extent to which they support the strategic goals of the School of Education, and then on a first-come first-served basis.
  • Due to time and resource constraints, MCE may work with SU Publications or contract with a freelance designer to complete complex, high-priority, or projects beyond the scope of MCE’s work queue.
  • In most cases, the client is responsible for furnishing final content before the start of the design process, and is accountable for final proofing of the materials.
  • All publications, correspondence, and documents for internal and external audiences should adhere to the branding and style guide provided, with appropriate School of Education and Syracuse University logos and word marks.

Media Relations

Media relations activities include recommending, organizing, capturing and directing media opportunities. MCE can support and serve as a clearing- house for information about programs, events, faculty and staff. The department may also provide research, contacts, or connections to subject matter experts to support media requests. The following procedures explain the department policies regarding the flow of information.

  • Faculty and staff should notify MCE if they, their work, or comments appear in the TV, radio, or print media.
  • All official School of Education news, in the form of releases, statements, reports, or reactions must be prepared or approved by the Director of Marketing and Communications or the Dean, and/or the Syracuse University Department of News Services. No department, office, or individual should communicate official news or information without support or consultation from at least one of these offices.
  • Faculty, staff, and students can report newsworthy items (awards, grants, projects, events) to MCE and the Dean directly on our website. Priority and items of interest will be followed up on and a press release, web post, article, or social media post may be issued.
  • Faculty and staff who write to, or provide comment to the media pertaining to their academic expertise should identify themselves using their School of Education title and contact information. Employees are asked to use a private address/contact if the media contact is related to personal opinion and not related to an academic topic.

External Communications

Communications with external audiences includes all formal and informal correspondence and meetings with alumni, academic and/or community partners, and donors to the School of Education.

  • Outreach to alumni beyond routine correspondence, such as department newsletters or and/or communications to groups of 50 or more, must be done in consultation with the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations using SU systems, per Alumni Relations policies. Failure to do so is a terminable offense.
  • News of significant meetings or interactions with high-profile alumni or donors should be reported to the Assistant Dean for Advancement so a report can be entered into the alumni database.

Advertising & Recruitment

  • All recruitment fliers, brochures, advertisements, and correspondence to prospective students (including letters and emails containing program information), etc. should be reviewed by the Assistant Dean for Academic and Student Services.
  • New programs or changes to existing programs cannot be advertised until official approval has been received from NYSED.
  • Program and admissions information must be consistent and accurate in all recruitment brochures, advertisements, catalog, on the website, etc. In the event of a discrepancy, Academic and Student Services is the authority on program and admissions information and should have final approval.
  • Prospective students’ (inquiries) data should be shared with either the undergraduate or graduate admissions recruiter to ensure students are entered into the Syracuse University system.
  • Any advertisements placed on behalf of the School of Education, its programs, or departments should be coordinated through MCE.

Events

All major events (conferences, workshops, receptions, lectures, etc.) should be coordinated in consultation with MCE to ensure consistency, compliance with procedural guidelines, and accessibility.

  • Faculty and staff are asked to submit requests to publicize events such as brown bag colloquia, lectures, workshops, professional development activities, open houses, recruitment opportunities, etc. to the SU School of Education web calendar.
  • Fliers and posters help increase visibility for events and are distributed electronically and posted in hard copy. Departments and offices should have MCE review all promotional fliers and posters before distribution.

Photography

Photography provides images to market The School of Education to the school’s faculty, staff and the prospective students and alumni through the web, social media, and various print publications.

  • The School of Education does not obtain a photography consent and release for photographs taken in a public venue or at a public event. This includes all public spaces across campus, including exterior walkways, entryways, atriums, sports fields and classrooms. However, if photography is scheduled for a specific story, profile, marketing or advertising initiative, whether for print or electronic distribution, subjects will be given the opportunity to opt out through verbal or written agreement. Consent is always obtained when images of minors will be used or distributed for promotional purposes.
  • Requests for professional photography and videography services are honored based on the priorities of the School of Education. All other requests are managed based on a first-come first-served basis.
  • Not all photography requests may be met based on time and resource constraints. At these times, departments and offices may be given instructions and/or contact information to retain professional photography services to be paid for by the requesting department.
  • All images contracted by the School of Education remain the property of the School. Any reproduction, transmission or publication without permission or proper credit (i.e. “courtesy of the Syracuse University School of Education”) from MCE is prohibited.
  • Images in the School of Education cache may not be used to promote an agency, organization, individual, or publication except for those directly relating to the mission and vision of the School of Education without proper approval and credits.
    A School of Education photo library is available on Flickr. The Syracuse University photo library is available on Collage.

Videography

Videography chronicles on tape and other electronic media, moving images to support college-wide special events, courses, lectures, seminars and other academic programming needs.

  • Videography should comply with federal copyright law, US Title 17, and requires a client to obtain written approval to use any copyrighted video or audio components in a project.
  • Any video the will be shown or shared in a public forum (lecture, on the internet) must be captioned and/or alternate arrangements must be made to make the material accessible to all audiences.

Social Media

Observe the following guidelines when posting, commenting and sharing content via social media. Page administrators are responsible for all content on their page(s) and must secure any permissions and address any rights or privacy issues that may arise.

DO:

  • Be active. Post content and monitor your account(s) regularly, and address any inappropriate messages or misuse. Respond to comments in a timely and courteous manner.
  • Use an engaging and friendly tone. Make your audience feel welcome and encourage them to participate.
  • Post content that is relevant, engaging and befitting an institution of higher learning. Have a value-over-volume, or quality-over-quantity mindset. Always use proper grammar and write accessibly, following the SU/SOE branding and style guide whenever possible.
  • Admit if you make a mistake, and be upfront and quick with a correction.
  • Credit sources of written content, images and ideas you use. Attribute any copyrighted material.
  • Try to drive traffic to the School of Education website—it is still the main online presence for the School.
  • Be data-driven. Analyze Facebook insights and any other metrics available to you to understand what types of content are effective.

DON’T:

  • Originate or “scoop” School or University content using a personal account. Be a team player in reporting developments and sharing findings and content internally, and/or across units.
  • Argue or engage in emotionally driven side conversations. For the sake of transparency, do not delete negative comments. Instead, provide a link to more information and/or the appropriate campus department. Contact MCE for assistance with sensitive issues.
  • Post student information protected under FERPA, or share privileged or confidential information about the School of Education or third parties with whom the School has a relationship.
  • Post any information that can be used to locate someone offline, including but not limited to phone numbers, home or local addresses, birth dates and email addresses. The only exception is the listing of a SU email or phone number as a point of contact.
  • Sell or endorse commercial products (SU merchandise is OK), or promote political campaigns or causes.
  • Act as a spokesperson for the University as a whole.
  • Repeatedly insist that people follow you, like your page or invite their friends to like the page, or posts on the page.
  • In the event of a declared emergency on campus, all departmental social media accounts will refrain from posting any content. The official University Facebook and Twitter accounts may post relevant information at the discretion of Syracuse University News Services, which can and should be shared.

Web Services

The vast majority of web content should exist within the School of Education website, soe.syr.edu. Some exceptions can be made for larger centers, institutes, projects, or organizations and can be discussed on individual bases. The website is the primary vehicle for recruitment, fundraising, and public relation to all audiences. Staff and faculty should communicate online in a user- friendly manner and ensure that Web pages conform to a standard School and University- approved look and feel, using language that is consistent and concise.

MCE assists with planning/outlining web structure and pages, copywriting web content, maintaining and editing the website, and posting/captioning online video, adding to and approving web calendar events, and creating/editing/posting all news releases and articles. Academic program content must also be approved by the office of Academic and Student Services.

Departments and offices are responsible for periodically reviewing and updating their web content, and notifying MCE of significant events or changes (personnel shifts, curriculum changes, deadlines) that should be reflected on SOE website.

General policies:

  • It is strongly recommended that there be at least one person in each department/office designated to monitor and generate web content and work in partnership with MCE to maintain current web pages for the School.
  • All department/program and individual faculty pages represent the School of Education and Syracuse University, and should contain appropriate branding and links.
  • Web pages (including all content, links, attached files, images, and video) must be accessible to persons with disabilities.