College Board Midwestern Forum in Chicago 2013

It is, of course, impossible to say everything and to cover all of one’s thoughts and opinions in this setting. My goal for the panel was to share some experiences, wisdom, and try to encourage others to continue learning. I hope we accomplished this goal.

As a follow up to the panel, I would like to share some extended ideas in response to one of the questions directed to me, which was, “How can digital communications be integrated into existing communications practices?”

How can digital communications be integrated into existing communications practices?

When I first read this question in preparation for the panel, my initial response was that the better question to ask might be: “How can existing communications practices be integrated into digital platforms?” The initial wording of the question illustrates what I see as a continuing disconnect between the ubiquity of digital in our society and the lack of acceptance of digital communications into the culture of higher education marketing. Nevertheless, the initial question is still complicated and challenging.

I believe that higher education is sloooowly moving its way forward into digital communications. There are so many success stories and fantastic teams at many universities and colleges. However, digital is still isolated, siloed, and compartmentalized so often. Why is integration taking so long? Something is missing.

Digital Staff Needs Faculty Mentors

If an organization only seeks to integrate digital into existing communications, it will fail to maximize the potential of digital. Signs of this are: websites that are copies of print materials, writers told to “repurpose” content for the web, and digital only being heralded for how it is made, not why it is made.

To succeed, higher education must integrate digital communications into the culture of academia itself. One way to do this is to eliminate barriers between digital staff and your institution’s faculty. Digital teams need to learn your traditions, goals, and objectives through direct participation and face-to-face conversations. Many of the most talented digital communicators and producers come from outside of academia. In order for your organization to advance, it is not about digital communicators teaching faculty and administrators to use Twitter or the same people emailing them course descriptions and admissions packets to be posted online — it is about integrating digital communicators into the daily life and practices of academia.

I was privileged at one institution to be the first strategist to assist the university’s oldest and largest college as it transitioned to the culture of digital. My first meetings with faculty leadership were odd, to put it mildly. Some of the faculty members were confrontational–openly worried that my goal was to force all content into templates and to homogenize their subject matter into generic, corporate-looking branding vehicles for the university. They also recognized their lack of expertise when it came to digital communications; a position that we all would find uncomfortable and intimidating. At the same time, because of their status as experts in their fields, I was as nervous as they were about working together. But, we all knew that the college needed to take huge steps forward into digital communications, so partnering made logical sense. Thankfully, we were able to put aside our fears and get down to the business of producing excellent work.

In the end, we were successful because the dean’s office put the time into mentoring me. The associate dean assigned to supervise me as I created a new staff and produced 30+ websites understood the value of mentoring. This should not come as a surprise, because most faculty have a well-honed ability to mentor upcoming professionals, teaching and guiding undergraduates and graduate students as they do.

This particular associate dean quickly organized monthly breakfast meetings with me and the new staff, held faculty meetings so that I could get to know and learn about each department’s culture, and she invited me into planning meetings, visits from alumni and benefactors, and thought leaders. She included my staff in holiday parties, lectures, and discussions on topics central to the mission of higher education: academic freedom, operational management, and diversity. In essence, I shared what I knew about digital communications and the faculty of the college taught me higher education leadership. We created a collaborative partnership.

If you’re on a digital team:

• Reach out and find faculty mentors who have an interest or curiosity about digital communications.
• Take a student-guided campus tour
• Go to classes. What a novel idea. How many of digital communicators have actually seen or attended a class at your college/university?
• Go to conferences that don’t only include people from digital
• Build a resource of your organization’s history, leaders, traditions, and honors (this should already exist in your PR department). Incentivize the digital team to learn this material inside and out.
• At your next department/office retreat, create a quiz with this material. Make it a game. Who can answer correctly the most trivia questions about your buildings, people, history and traditions?

If you’re an administrator or faculty member:

• Faculty: do what you do best – teach and mentor. Digital needs you, and you need digital.
• Recognize that digital is new, evolving, and growing.
• Invite digital communicators to your planning meetings and visits from alumni and benefactors.
• Share your operational goals and objectives. Be ready to articulate what success means and how you are evaluated. Be clear about your goals.
• Be candid about your comfort-level with digital communications

So, how can digital communications be integrated into existing communications practices?

The answer is simple. Cultural immersion. If you’re a digital communicator, think of yourself as a student studying abroad who should try to understand the traditions of the place you’re visiting before judging it. And if you’re an administrator or faculty member in charge of making a digital communications staff members successful, reach out to them just as you would an exchange student. We want to learn your language, customs, and traditions. And, yes, we want to teach you ours.

Session Details

Break Through: Communicating with Students in a Noisy World
Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 9:30am- 11:30am

Discussion topic: “Technology changes rapidly, but our desire for personal communication and engagement with students remains the same. Pervasive, portable, constant media has created a near-deafening technological buzz, making it increasingly difficult to reach and connect with students and parents. What resources are available to facilitate stronger connections? How do we break through the social media din and build bridges with students? And how do we convey a sense of authenticity in our messaging and outreach? Join us for a lively discussion as we focus on strategies to embrace the message and not simply chase the media.”

Backchannel

Please post your questions in the comments or to Twitter #MWForum.

In addition to the article, which includes comments from other interviewees, I thought I’d share my complete interview Q&A with Georgy. She asked me some insightful questions, and I want to share my entire answers. Thank you Georgy Cohen and LINK for the opportunity to share my thoughts and opinions.

Are responsive web design (RWD), adaptive web design, and the like overhyped? Why should we care?

I don’t believe that RWD is overhyped because it makes sense. It’s ideal for a website to adapt its layout to the viewing environment or device. We will never control how, when, or where a visitor will access a website, so it is imperative that it work in all contexts. I value the concept of RWD because it respects the importance of content and accessibility.

However, I do think there is anxiety in the industry that unless your website is RWD that it is somehow broken or inadequate. RWD is a popular subject at most conferences and may perhaps be the most dominant topic of conversation since “mobile.”

I believe you can’t call a website a success or a failure based on whether it’s RWD, but you can do so by looking at its content. That is, you can have a wildly successful non-RWD website if your content is solid. The opposite is not true, unfortunately. You cannot have a successful RWD website if your content is poor.

How is higher ed scaling up to be able to execute RWD? What’s working? What’s not yet in place?

Some organizations are focused on hiring and/or training staff for RWD. More commonly, web teams are initiating the learning of RWD on their own through a process of organic growth not led top-down by management. This is not a new situation. The same thing happened years ago when the concept of “web standards” emerged and table-based web development was excluded from best practices. In fact, higher educational institutions have struggled for almost a decade to determine the best balance of building up internal staff versus paying vendors for services. Right now both vendors and internal teams are new to RWD so there really is no easy way to simply acquire RWD. Everyone is learning, so the process of becoming a team that can do RWD is costly and time-intensive.

How do you think RWD will change how web teams work?

RWD champions content. It strengthens the imperative that designers and developers must work closely with content producers. This is good. It makes me so proud to see the industry grow in this direction. Anything that brings content, design, and development closer makes the industry stronger. RWD encourages writers to understand the dynamism of the environments in which digital content is consumed, it forces designers to be agile, and challenges developers to never settle for a fixed definition of the web.

How much of the challenge in deciding whether or not to embrace RWD is about technology vs. resources vs. organizational change/will vs. something else?

RWD is time and money, supply and demand. Just like anything else. If you are going to pay for it right now, the costs will be somewhere around a 25% premium. And, you have to be knowledgeable enough to know to ask for it and to understand its value. Bottom line is that if you are going to pay for it, you still have to understand what it means. Conversely, hiring a new person who knows RWD comes with an appropriate salary increase while supporting the training of existing staff requires an investment of time and money. Obviously, there are opportunity costs associated with team members learning new skills while other projects need attention.

It seems that the movement toward RWD etc. is not so much about new technology as it is finding a way to keep up with the ever-shifting digital landscape. How do we 1) do this and 2) advocate the need to do this to the powers that be? What are the challenges, and how do we tackle them?

Great question. Just great. I could go on and on about this question alone. This question almost clearly defines my career in digital and higher education. There will always be changes. This makes the industry what it is — dynamic. There is always room for new thinking, methods, opinions, and definitions. But, we will always have users — people who visit, read, and use the websites that we create. If we are focused on the user at all times, and never stray, the industry will remain strong and vibrant. RWD is all about the user, so it passes my test. Organizational leaders need to make a decision: do we want to be on the leading edge of digital communications defining the standards for the industry or do we want to replicate best practices, follow others’ lead and learn from their mistakes. Or, if all else fails, do we want to write big checks for someone else to do it for us? Some organizations strive for excellence and love to take risks. Others want to be conservative and wait to follow trends. And some others are good at just writing a check. Figure out which one you are, then you will know if you need to advocate for more staff, training, or more vendor money.

It’s RWD today, and it’ll be something else tomorrow. Why scale up to RWD and the like when something new will just disrupt that approach in a year or two?

Great digital teams are themselves responsive. They adapt. The most successful digital teams right now were built when some other method was the norm. They made the transition to RWD because it suits their nature and the digital culture they’ve created. I believe that creating responsive (not just RWD-capable) web teams comes with nurturing talent, making good hires, and committing to a standard of excellence. If you look closely, the websites in higher education that have RWD likely have a history of success and a culture of excellence. Scale up to that kind of culture, not to a particular technology.

Thank you to the Northwestern University community, and especially the Office of Alumni Relations and Development, for welcoming me to the staff. It has been about eight weeks since I started at NU, and I am amazed by the number of impressive and committed professionals with whom I have met. I have completed my “on-boarding” process, and it has been a most organized and purposeful introduction.

I am currently focused on learning and getting up to speed with our responsibilities on the digital team within marketing communications. I anticipate sharing and learning a great deal. We are planning and growing. It should be an amazing upcoming fiscal year.

If you would like to connect with me, please do so at my profile on LinkedIn. I welcome connecting with my new colleagues, peers, and friends. I am also on Twitter @mattklawitter.

I will oversee the Office of Alumni Relations and Development’s online presence from a holistic perspective, ensuring that all properties, including web, mobile, email, and social are brand-aligned, engaging, and effective in achieving goals. This includes providing leadership in measuring the effectiveness of digital communications projects and programs; nurturing, cultivating, and engaging NU alumni across various online communities; and overseeing the user experience and information architecture of OARD websites. I will also serve as a subject matter expert in using digital communications to meet marketing and communications objectives.

I am extremely pleased to join such a well-respected organization and look forward to working closely with my new team. Thank you to the institutions and agencies with whom I worked this past year as a consultant. I wish you much success in the future.

In March 2012, I spent five minutes on what turned out to be my most popular #highered blog post ever. The article titled, “The ultimate, ultra-simple, real, authentic, University website homepage wireframe concept” was an idea that I had a few years ago. (I even tweeted it in 2009.)

Obviously, the wireframe is a humorous illustration that I strongly believe still holds true. The wireframe in that article may seem oversimplified, but when you think about it, this is what all higher education homepages are trying to accomplish.

Why are .edus getting so complicated?

Psychologist Barry Schwartz in a Ted Talk said “…if everything is possible, you don’t have freedom, you have paralysis. You decrease satisfaction and increase paralysis. Everybody needs a fishbowl. The absence of a metaphorical fishbowl is a recipe for misery and disaster.” View Ted Talk: Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice.

University websites try so hard to be everything for everyone. Not wanting to make anyone unhappy (especially internal stakeholders) with a site makes it unfortunately more complicated. Many times, it seems that the only strategy is NBNW — new boss, new website. And, the temptation to out-design and out-build your old (or current) site leads to muddied strategy guided by an uninformed belief that users want more, and more, and more piles of content, choices, and technology tricks. As a result, I have observed a resurgence of quick links, huge sliding feature blocks, link farms, and a new trend of super-scrolling webpages. Ironically, these methods are intended by web teams to help the user get what they want quickly and with minor interaction, but in reality they may lead to increased user dissatisfaction.

Common .edu Complications

• Overuse of news headlines and event listings on homepage
• Direct links to external and internal resources without staging or explanation (social media, portals, etc..)
• Huge scrolling pages with nested navigation
• Large left-right scrolling feature blocks
• Hover menus, fly-outs, and mega menus
• Student, faculty, staff profiles lack keywords or descriptions
• Missing high-value trigger words such as “apply, give, visit, contact”
• Vaguely branded resources and clever marketing-language naming instead of simple action-oriented labeling

Opinion Based on Research

During my career, I have been responsible for managing, guiding, and building websites and digital properties for major universities. I take these responsibilities very seriously. Most likely, anyone with whom I have worked will tell you that I am passionate about studying the effectiveness of a team’s work and the return on investment to an organization. I believe healthy strategies don’t come from gut feelings.

For example, during my most recent tenure as the executive director of digital communications marketing, our small (and brand new) department faced a tremendous amount of pressure. Our goals were to design a new homepage, establish a new reputation for the university’s digital presence, and define the measurement of success for digital marketing. To achieve these goals, we had to support our strategies and execution with real research and findings.

The resulting new website actually had significantly fewer links than its predecessor. It featured well-placed and brand new navigation and provided the user with fewer choices. Our primary goal was to inform users of their options in a minimum number of options, lead them down a clear path, and reward them with valuable content and links to sub-sites. We created landing pages for high-value content areas, such as admissions, academics, and about — sections of content that previously did not exist. Before our changes, there were direct links to dozens of sub-sites that were managed by other departments, and virtually no priming of the audience as to why they should proceed to them.

Complexity is an Old Habit

We gave every sub-site office (admissions, athletics, colleges and schools, etc…) the opportunity to preview the new website. Not surprisingly, each and every one demanded that their “quick link” from the homepage be preserved or replaced on the new site. But they made these requests without explanation or strategy. The reason for their requests was that this was simply how it always had been.

However, my research showed that administrators’ demand for direct links did not support the University’s overall communication strategy. For example, I learned that there was a significant tradition of athletic accomplishment and commitment to the student-athlete at the university. This was a story and message told to me by numerous administrators, staff, faculty, and students. However, at that time, the university’s homepage simply linked directly to the athletics website — a site that jumped right into sports scores and schedules.

I asked, if this commitment to athletics is true, and you all feel and believe it, then why aren’t we telling anyone? So, we created a new landing page, linked between the homepage and athletics sub-site, to tell a story about the university’s dedication to the student-athlete tradition and its significance to the organization. We preserved easy access to sports scores and other information by creating well-placed links.

We used the same landing page strategy for admissions, academics, and all other major content categories. We removed the bloat of direct sub-site links from the homepage and created brand new content and information architecture for the site. We removed layers, consolidated content, and put together a fast-loading, logical, informative, and engaging website. We built the foundations of click-throughs to be stronger and flexible enough to ensure future growth.

I cannot list the many ways our team streamlined and improved the site in terms of content and click-through paths. It would take too long. However, web analytics proved that users navigated our site using the click-throughs paths we suggested through strategic use of design elements.

How did we know our design worked? We used event tracking to test and evaluate every pixel on the homepage and landing pages and monitored traffic on all levels. Our daily monitoring of the site showed that users accessed landing pages, which before received little traffic, at higher numbers than ever before. However, despite the visible improvement, a few key content owners could not move beyond their gut feeling that it would be better for their areas to have a direct link to their sub-site in a massive hover-menu from the homepage. They thought we had screwed up the project and they also believed that web analytics for their specific sites proved them right.

Less Clutter, Better Informed and Motivated Audience

Indeed, some sub-sites did show fewer total visitors to their sites after the homepage redesign — a potentially damning consequence of our new strategy. But, after carefully studying this phenomenon over time, we learned that the new homepage was actually sending more highly-qualified, informed, and primed visitors to sub-sites. Before the new strategy, the homepage would dump “garbage” traffic on sub-sites (for example, sending prospective graduate students to the undergraduate admission site).

After we created well-placed landing pages full of informative content, KPIs (or key performance indicators) on the sub-sites actually improved, some overwhelmingly. We had some evidence that by minimizing the choices on the homepage, keeping it simple, and educating the user along their path, that we were increasing the real and perceived value of the website.

Yet, despite this evidence, some sub-site owners still had a gut feeling that users were dissatisfied with the new, less chaotic, and less complicated approach. They even provided anecdotal evidence citing a few users’ personal opinions. So, we commissioned a detailed third-party research study with a reputable national firm to gauge users’ satisfaction of the new site. The results of the study clearly concluded that visitors to the .edu domain who first visited the homepage and resulting landing page were more satisfied with their overall experience compared to directly visiting a sub-site. We had evidence that users preferred simple, minimal choices supported by high-value content. They did not mind, at all, clicking to landing pages first, preferred not to scroll too much, and actually felt better about the organization after their visit.

Strike a Balance

Success means keeping the choices on a homepage few and strategic, educating and informing the user as they choose, and resisting the temptation to over-build a page. The creative opportunity is to follow these fundamentals while also presenting a beautiful, engaging, and realistic design that enhances the experience — not overpowers it with choice. Quick access to content is obviously important but worthless if the experience does not simultaneously satisfy the user’s expectations.

A university homepage is not a warehouse of content and options. The website is a stage. Enable your digital marketing team to set a stage by “carefully and strategically selecting, designing, adapting, or modifying” your content to establish the significance of your organization. Encourage exploration and retention by heightening the user experience while not overwhelming with choice.

As the days of being the “everything for everyone” staff member in higher education digital production come to an end, professionals now have an opportunity to intentionally focus on special skill development.

For the last ten years, I, personally, focused on management. Others have chosen to specialize in design, programming, or content strategy.

I recently had a reader submit a question that really made me pause and reflect on my background and the choices I’ve made. Others have posed a similar question to me before, and I believe it is extremely relevant now that our industry is becoming more and more specialized.

The Question

“If you were to enter your career all over again, knowing what you know now about Higher Ed Digital Marketing, what educational background would you like to have?”
For starters, my education and professional experience has been a mixture of theory and practice. I love language, theory, social sciences and study of human behaviors. Indiana University has an excellent reputation in these subjects. Just excellent. As a sophomore, I chose a major in German and minor in Sociology. So, how did these subjects lead to a career in higher education digital marketing?

Technology

I went to IU in the mid-90s, and realized early on that I wanted to pursue a career in web and Internet technologies. Computers, email, and the first structures of the web were accessible to me at IU. I was fortunate in this regard, because Indiana was originally (and to this day continues to be) one of the most wired and connected campuses. These technologies enchanted me and I was ravenous to learn about them. However, there were almost no classes back then that focused on the web. The few that did were available through the Computer Science department. I enrolled in them and loved every minute of learning.
Today, there are fantastic new offerings in the field of Informatics that give direction and structure to future digital practitioners by “studying how to design a system that delivers the right information, to the right person in the right place and time, in the right way” (Informatics on Wikipedia). If I were choosing a major or minor again, I might consider studying Informatics, because it combines study of technologies and human behavior.
Possible Paths

• Undergraduate or Master’s level degree in Informatics or Computer Science
• Practical experience designing and coding websites
• Attend conferences and webinars

Communication

I started my first post baccalaureate job in 1997 at a small public relations and marketing communications firm in Northern Indiana. There, I was part of a new and emerging industry and marketing concept called “New Media.” Today we would call it digital communications marketing (or some combination of those terms).
Basically, our department’s goal was to create and sell web and multimedia products to clients in many industries, including higher education. I began my job in the very late 90s, so web marketing was just getting started. I was in on the ground floor and in a very tough, small market. Sink or swim.
The skills that I used most were writing and speaking. I had to think quickly, relate to clients’ needs and situations, and had to translate my knowledge of technology into a language relevant and recognizable to novices. My education in liberal arts and web technologies was highly relevant and useful.
In 2002, I formally moved into the realm of higher education because I was offered a great opportunity to join the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame’s administration was experimenting with pulling together group of technology professionals whose goal would be to deliver Internet- and web-related services to campus. We served clients on campus, much as I did in my previous job, and thus I needed functional creative and technical skills. This job was similar to my first position in that I interacted with clients and also managed and built websites.
However, the most essential skills I used were language, writing, and public speaking because most of our web services and resources were entirely new (and even somewhat mysterious) to most people on campus. We not only were trying to deliver new technologies to advance the university through digital media, but we also had an opportunity to teach people how to embrace these new technologies. So, two other factors that predict success in the web industry includes the desire to teach others and the ability to communicate–speak and write–effectively and efficiently.
Possible Paths

• Undergraduate or Master’s level degree in any liberal arts, social science, or business discipline
• Practice designing and giving presentations, writing and editing.(keep a blog, enlist friends and colleagues to critique your work)
• Marketing degree or MBA. Many business schools offer classes in digital marketing as part of an overall marketing major.

Social Skills

I made the transition to management when I was given the opportunity to create a new web marketing office at Notre Dame. Most of what I dealt with on a day-to-day basis was being a change agent. Being a change agent was also a prominent and similar characteristic of my next job at Washington University as the first executive director of digital communications marketing.
Understanding how relationships are made, how trust is so crucial to gaining respect and opportunity, and how behaviors and attitudes are shaped are all core competencies of a change agent, and are topics fundamental to sociological and social psychological theory. Because I had a basic formal education in sociology, I could recognize and understand the circumstances around me.
Additionally, success for a digital manager is hypothesizing how people will behave and react, then studying the real outcomes through metrics. Sociology includes both theories of social change and disorganization and has disciplined methods for studying such change.
Finally, in order to understand how to best market a university, one must fully understand the culture and nature of the environment. Individuals who are to be successful in a higher education environment need to understand the intersection between digital marketing and academic culture. Success means care for and sensitivity to how faculty, administrators, staff, and students think, work, and behave.
What does care and sensitivity look like? It means learning a new language and relating to people as individuals. This became very evident to me when I had a person job shadow me. They spent the entire day with me seeing my interactions with coworkers, team leadership, and clients, all on campus. We had meetings, wrote e-mails, and also conducted a staff meeting. At the end of the day, the person who shadowed me made an obvious observation yet one that I never fully appreciated until then. She said that she expected to see a lot more technology and me working in isolation but really, the work I did looked more like social work.
Possible Paths

• Bachelor’s or Master’s level degree in Social Science discipline (Psychology, Sociology, Communication, Social Work)
• Practical experience leading team projects
• Foreign language and/or overseas experience

Final Note

Thanks to Kristen Groves (@kristenread) from Queen’s University for the question.

I first started my career in marketing communications working at a PR/marketing firm. We pitched to potential clients from many industries, networked with peers from other firms, and helped sell a variety of products. To do our work, we constantly used the language of quickly emerging trends: buzz words. When I made the move to higher education, I quickly realized (after some stressful interactions) that my words weren’t effective in my new environment.

During the time since my rather harsh initiation, I have witnessed newly-hired senior leaders, many from “corporate America,” unwittingly and to poor effect employ marketing terminology that helped them succeed in their previous jobs. Members of the academy often perceive such language negatively. Its use can result in unproductive or distant working relationships between communicators, faculty, and leaders.

Why No Marketing Lingo in Higher Ed?

I believe such alienation occurs because experienced University faculty and administrators are (rightly) uncomfortable with references to “selling” or “marketing” their institution. Why? Because education is not a product in the same way that a car is. Despite some cynical efforts to view students as consumers, true educators believe that education is not about consumption, it is about intellectual transformation and knowledge production. Although much marketing jargon has similar meaning in higher education communications, deans, department chairs, and professors perceive “corporate speak” as highly unsophisticated and unequal to the task of telling an institution’s story.
Thus, when University communicators use outsider corporate speak to describe how they will “sell” a college or university, they telegraph the message that they are not familiar with the traditions and mission of higher education. Some areas of universities, such as business schools, are somewhat more tolerant of such language, but for the most part corporate speak is considered insensitive to the unique value and dignity of teaching and learning. Academics see corporate business references as a signal that the communicator in question will attempt to cheapen the identity of the institution.
For example, after watching a presentation by a senior communicator, I recall hearing a faculty member remark that “we are not a credit card company” and “this person is clearly from the outside and doesn’t get what we do or why we’re here.” (Related sidenote: the use of corporate speak during a vendor presentation is an indicator that the project may not go well.)

Suggested Translations

However, it is definitely possible to translate the language of marketing best practices to higher education communications. Here is a list of translated terms that I’ve found useful as I’ve served in higher education.

Final Thought

Of course, embracing a new culture requires that one must reflect on and internalize its traditions and ideals, not merely learn the language just to achieve objectives. Although the words and phrases I translated above have similar meanings, they are not exactly identical. Using the phrases appropriate to the culture of higher education signals that you do, indeed, respect and believe in its unique mission. You understand that “telling a story” is not the same as “advertising a product.”

Discussion

• What other translations do you use or hear?
• Why do you believe that these work?
• Please share your thoughts and comments on Google Plus.

2011 has been a year of major transition for me and my family. As I said goodbye to friends and colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis, I looked forward to taking a new perspective in higher education web and digital communications. My family set out for a new adventure.

I thank my contacts at WUSTL for their continued confidence in my services and support to the university. It was difficult for me to say goodbye and leave during such an amazing time in your growth, but I have no doubt that you will continue on the path we started together with great dedication, talent, and commitment to WUSTL. I look forward to working together in 2012.

Also, I thank the community of higher education web and marketing communications. I am inspired by your desire to convey your institutional missions to others. I hope that you have found my writing valuable to you and your organizations. It has been a pleasure partnering with several of you. Thank you to the 75+ universities that have frequented my site, and please know that your clicks and comments motivate me to continue sharing.

With great happiness, I have renewed relationships with former colleagues from the University of Notre Dame. I am so proud to see how well many of my former staff are doing in their professions. It means so much to me to see them succeed and advance.

Finally, thank you to Northwestern University for challenging my wife, Erin, in new and profound ways as she begins her doctoral program in Media, Technology, and Society. Her intellectual experiences at NU have already enriched her life and have contributed to fascinating conversations at home. We’re pleased to be raising our daughter Zoe in such a welcoming city and community.