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Nearly 400 members of the FIU family responded to a communication survey last August. The Division of University and Community Relations took cues from its findings in designing News@FIU, a site featuring stories about university news, scholarship and research, events and news of use to employees. The site is available online or via email and RSS.
By Karen Cochrane
Results of a survey sent last summer to FIU faculty and staff were used to create an e-news vehicle – News@FIU – that will provide a quick summary of the latest news, media coverage, upcoming events and “news you can use.”
“This is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure everyone in the FIU community has easy access to FIU news and event information,” said Sandy Gonzalez-Levy, vice president for University and Community Relations and leader of the initiative. “This re-imagined format is in direct response to survey feedback.”
Key findings
Nearly 90 percent of survey respondents indicated their clear preference for a weekly e-communication that includes news from throughout the FIU community.
The communication survey was sent to approximately 4,000 FIU faculty and staff via email last July. In all, 385 individuals answered the anonymous survey.
“We’re gratified so many people responded,” said Gonzalez-Levy. “We received many thoughtful comments and suggestions.”
What you can expect
News@FIU is replacing This Week@FIU. The full-color vehicle will be updated daily, but members of the FIU community will receive an email reminder to check out the latest stories every Tuesday morning. (Individuals can also sign up to receive the latest news via RSS feed.)
In a nod to survey feedback, more news articles will be shorter and include a brief summary. Video will accompany some of the stories. FIU news releases will be posted on the site (in the Top Stories section). Communicators from across the university will contribute articles to the site.
Thanks to some of you urging us to remember the lighter side of things, we created FIYou, which will feature a different university employee each week. And in one of our favorite site features, a montage of images mid-way down the page will offer slice-of-life campus shots accompanied by brief captions. A work in progress, the site also offers readers the opportunity to leave a comment.
In the near future a link to an online Expert Sourcebook will be added so that members of the news media can search for FIU “experts” easily and quickly on a wide range of topics.
Said Gonzalez-Levy, “We think it adds up to a more relevant, meaningful news experience for members of the FIU family.”
Our most impactful research:
I love the design of the site.
OMG! This is great!
i agree. Maybe the civl engineering website designers need to use this fiu template instead of the dull one they been using for years. At least try to make our program look appealing to future investors in our school and most of all our students!
The layout and idea is really great! If this website is updated weekly, this is a really, really great idea! I love it, thanks! GO FIU!
We already have The Beacon and the radio. Why in the world are you spending my parents hard-earned money on this crap????
The Beacon and the Radio Station are student run media. This is the university's news site. Press releases, faculty and staff news, etc. It crosses over a bit into student centric content but student's are not the main audience of this site
I know of no university in the world without a similar news engine.
now they want to raise the student fees to pay for fiu student tv and get more wireless access. hello it's a recession! the time for tuition hikes to pay for infrastructure upgrades and p.r. luxuries is when times are good and the burden can more easily be borne. and an fiu channel is just a joke recycled from middle school no one's going to watch it
HI I WANT INFORMATION
You have mentioned having an Expert Sourcebook for the news media – may be the experts are more willing to cooperate with them because they certainly have no time for their own students doing research at the university which is a real shame!!!