This spring, members of the Gustavus Cabinet will write guest posts for Monday Moments. This week, I’m pleased to share thoughts from Tim Kennedy ’82, our Vice President for Marketing & Communication. – Becky
Here we go! However and wherever you spent your spring break, I hope you had a chance to catch your breath before we collectively push towards the end of the academic year in six short weeks.
While spring break is a chance to rest for many, our community also had numerous Gusties serving others, performing, and competing over spring break. The Gustavus Jazz Ensemble toured the Midwest, students took part in four work trips with Habitat for Humanity, and just this past weekend we had two Gustie student-athletes earn All-America honors at the NCGA national meet in Ithaca, New York.
The primary role of the Office of Marketing and Communication is to authentically share Gustavus Adolphus College’s stories with the world. These are your stories—the ways that you achieve, overcome, grow, and succeed here on the hill or in the communities you go on to serve. The methods used to tell those stories have certainly changed over the 160-year history of the College, however the focus of those stories—preparing young people for lives of leadership and service, which is taken from the Mission of the College—has remained the same.
The marketing and communication team takes great pride in promoting the important work of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni using 21st century methods of distribution including the internet, social media, digital photography, livestreamed and edited video, podcasts, and virtual webinars to name a few. The ways people receive that information has also changed drastically, with over 80 percent of U.S. residents recently saying they receive most of their news and handle virtually all of their personal communication on their mobile phone.
A key part of sharing the Gustavus story is content creation across all of the College’s platforms including the website, social media channels, printed materials, and the Gustavus Quarterly magazine to name a few. We work hard to identify high-impact stories about the people who make up this special community. If you have a story idea that you think exemplifies the mission and core values of the College, we would like to hear from you! Please send your story idea to ga_news@gustavus.edu with a short description of your idea and your contact information.
Students play an important role in helping the marketing and communication office do its work and we are always looking for student employees who are interested in writing feature stories, producing photography and videography, creating graphic design, and planning for major events on campus such as the Nobel Conference, Christmas in Christ Chapel, the MAYDAY! Peace Conference, and commencement. Students, please reach out to Ann Volk at avolk@gustavus.edu if you have skills that match our needs and want to work in a fun, creative, team-oriented environment.
Thank you for helping the Gustavus marketing team share our community’s inspiring and motivational stories with the world, which in turn allows the College to continue to be recognized as one of top private liberal arts colleges in the country and a place that has been delivering on its mission of preparing young people for lives of leadership and service for 160 years.
This week, reflect on your own Gustavus story. Thank those faculty, staff, colleagues, friends, and peers around you who have assisted you on your journey. Let’s continue to show the world how Gusties make their lives count.
With gratitude,
Tim Kennedy ‘82