Get into step with the Maryland National Guard Forums

January 4, 2010

Sharyn

I’m planning to attend the Maryland National Guard Forum on Veterans Reintegration on January 12, 2010. I thought it would be interesting to hear first hand from Cheryl Mannon, from Towson University’s Academic Affairs division, about her experience planning the event and what attendees can expect. Here’s what she had to say:

Q: The Maryland National Guard is sponsoring a series of forums at Towson University. The first one is coming up on January 12 and the focus is on higher education and business. What can attendees expect?

A:    The first day is designed for post-secondary educators (community colleges, universities and trade schools) and will inform them about the unique challenges that returning veterans face on our campuses.  We have speakers who  have developed programs, MD National Guard experts in educational benefits and student and administrator panels to discuss their experiences on campus.   Educators will work in teams to develop ideas for action plans to  take back and implement on their own campuses.

Q: Who are the featured speakers for the forum on January 12?

A:  We’re very happy to have Dr. John Schupp, from Cleveland State University, who has started a unique veterans program on his campus and Buzz Williams, a Towson alum and author of “Spare Parts:  A Marine Reservist’s Journey from Campus to Combat in 38 Days”, a memoir of his experience as a student being deployed during the Gulf War.  We have reintegration  and benefits experts from the MD National Guard, several behavioral health professionals discussing challenges to the individual and to families and a chaplain to talk about community support for our student vets.

Guest panelists from local schools include representatives from Anne Arundel Community College, Community College of Baltimore County, University of Maryland, University College, Towson University and Montgomery Community College.    Each of the panelists have worked on veterans programming at their institutions and will share their successes and challenges.  Finally, there will be a veteran student panel to talk about their experiences on campus with ideas on improving our support systems.

Q: How did Towson University get selected to host the event?

A:  One of our adjunct professors in the Psychology Department, Dr. Christine  Harnett , works with the MD National Guard on reintegration issues and recommended us to the director of reintegration programs, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Gafney.

Q: What other events are planned as part of this forum series?

A: On January 13, the second day of the series will focus on employing and integrating veterans in the workforce.  There are many government programs available to employers who hire vets and many employers who promote hiring and training of veterans.   We’d like to begin a network for veterans across  the state of educators and employers.

A third conference may be held in June on campus and will focus on medical and behavioral health professionals in the community.

Q: What is the cost to attend the forums and how does someone register? Can anyone attend the forum?

A:    The Maryland National Guard has sponsored this event with the stipulation that it be free to all participants.    Registration is online at www.towson.edu/nationalguardexpo .  The event is open to all registrants (space available) although it is tailored specifically to post-secondary educators.

Leave a Comment » | Community Outreach, Education, Events, Homeland Security, News, TU Faculty & Staff | Permalink
Posted by Sharyn Kuczka

Got Social Media?

November 23, 2009

Sharyn

Last week I had the opportunity to return to one of my alma maters, University of Baltimore, to attend an event hosted by the Public Relations Society of America’s Maryland chapter. “10 Questions to Ask When Developing a Social Media Strategy” presented by Sean Carton of idfive was exactly the new information I was looking for. I’m eager to keep learning more and more about social media and how it can be used in a business capacity. What I liked about Sean’s presentation was that he spent a little time on the basics of social media and then he posed questions that really made me think and evaluate the strategy that we have in place for DECO. I was smiling and even laughing out loud throughout the presentation because Sean was able to share his 10 tips in a humorous, yet informative manner. Below I’ve highlighted a few of the questions he posed.

from fresherthan.com

Why chose social media?

Don’t think jumping on the bandwagon is a good enough answer. Just because everyone under 25 is doing it, make sure your organization is doing it for the right reason. You have to know your audience, or have a desire to build stronger relationships with that audience. Maybe you’re an organization that attracts a certain niche or you do something better than your competitors. We found that within our organization that offers services like economic analysis, it solutions, GIS consulting, business incubation, small business development and education, that we have a story to tell and we wanted to make sure the region was hearing about it.

Are you ready to give up control?

This is something that can be tricky. You can’t control what people say about your organization. And today, it’s easier and easier for people to say what they want in forums, twitter, blogs, and really anywhere. So don’t be scared of that, join the conversation. The whole point of social media is that it should be a two-way conversation. As Sean pointed out during his presentation, the truth can hurt, but it may be worth hearing.

How do you plan to get users to visit?

You can build it, but will they come? How will you spread the word? We’ve found that the content we create on our blog can help generate tidbits for our quarterly newsletter and twitter account. We’re asking university and business partners to help promote our blog and we’re sending relevant blog posts to clients hoping they will be enlightened or even share the information with other colleagues. Since the blog’s launch we have received more and more comments and also had our articles picked up internally at TU. You could say our approach is a little more on the grass roots side right now.

Who’s responsible for maintenance?

This is the tricky, but critical part of an organization’s social media strategy. At DECO we didn’t want to jump in head first and just hope the blog would work. We spent an entire summer talking with our team in DECO to find out who was interested in working with the blog, impressions of social media, and developing policies. We reviewed other blogs for what we liked and didn’t like, and then started building the framework. Since the launch, we formed a user group and meet monthly to talk about our posting schedule. This helps to keep all the contributors in the loop of the expectations. Editing and posting the articles then becomes a pretty easy task. It’s a good idea to make the maintenance part of someone’s job responsibilities so that it gets done. It’s also important to establish criteria of your social media, allow autonomy to your staff who oversees the social media and integrate it with all the forms of communication you are currently using.

Hearing this presentation gave me a few things to think about and I have a better idea of how to evaluate our social media strategy and make our presence stronger.

Click here to view the presentation

2 Comments | Business Analysis, Small Business Development | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sharyn Kuczka

See you on Facebook!

October 5, 2009
Sharyn

Sharyn

Leaving a softball game this summer, “see you on Facebook” is what one of my teammates shouted to a few of us as we were heading to our cars after the last game. It’s really no surprise that keeping up with the comings and goings of friends is so easily, and enthusiastically, done on Facebook. On September 15 the Web site reached the 300 million active users headcount and of those active users, 50% of them are logging on daily to:

  • update their status (40 million status updates a day)
  • upload pictures (2 billion photos uploaded each month)
  • create an event (3 million new events are hosted each month)
  • join a group (there are 45 million groups to chose from)
  • become a fan (10 million people become fans every day)
  • or take a quiz or play games (my least favorite tools of Facebook!)

facebook_logoFacebook’s web site defines their site as “a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers”. Facebook is getting the job done. Check out these statistics:

  • 1 to 1 million – The ratio of Facebook engineers to users.
  • 65 million – the number of active users accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
  • 35+ – The fastest growing demographic.
  • 130 – The average number of friends.
  • 6 billion – The number of minutes spent on Facebook every day.
  • 65 – The number of translations available.
  • 70% – The percentage of Facebook users that reside outside the United States.

facebookpage

Here at Towson, Facebook allows faculty, staff, students, alums, and university friends to connect. The admissions department has a Facebook fan page where they have over 1,100 users sharing information and checking out the demographics of TU. It’s a great way to reach out to potential applicants and current students. Towson Arts & Culture, uses their fan page to promote performances, exhibits, films and lectures each year. Although this page is relatively new, it’s clear that this fan page will be very useful as the number of fans increase. They’ll be able to use the page to not only promote those performances, but spread the word about events to a broader audience by the click of a button. Even President Caret uses Facebook to make himself more accessible to students. For him, using Facebook is a way to “get a dialogue going.” He can address important campus issues, such as parking and off campus residents, and market the university.

If you’re not a Facebook user yet, now’s the time. You can use the site as minimally as you like, or be a true active user and log on everyday with loads of information to share to all of your adoring friends, or even fans. Maybe I’ll even see you on Facebook!

Leave a Comment » | Students, TU Faculty & Staff | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Sharyn Kuczka

When did you need that by?

September 10, 2009
the actual printed piece

the final product

Ever been in a jam and needed to have something printed quickly??? I mean really fast! Well, that’s what I ran into a few weeks ago when preparing for the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) summer conference. The Center for GIS updated all their marketing materials, just in the nick of time before heading off to Ocean City for the annual event. A colleague had suggested giving 48hourprint.com a shot due to the tight turn around needed. Boy it did not disappoint.

  • Prices were affordable.
  • Customer service was readily available.
  • Online proofing was easy and efficient.
  • And their two day printing guarantee was met.

To top things off, the paper stock was of very high quality—and they even throw in a free varnish. 48hourprint.com has reassured me that in the future when a colleague or client needs a printing job done yesterday, I can turn to them!

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The purpose of this blog is to provide information about solutions, projects, and people associated with Towson University’s Division of Economic and Community Outreach.   Accordingly, any reference to non-University entities, including vendors, neither endorses nor otherwise promotes the products  or services of such entities and the University expressly disclaims any such endorsement or promotion.

Leave a Comment » | Business Analysis, Entrepreneurship, IT | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by Sharyn Kuczka