See your e-mail inbox for the March edition of Dateline: RIT. This month’s e-newsletter features a whopping three “news hits” that appeared within a few days of one another in The Wall Street Journal, along with other news placements. Getting mentioned in WSJ every so often is a huge accomplishment; receiving three mentions in a period of less than two weeks is almost
‘Comings and goings’ on “Dateline: RIT – The Podcast” this week, as RIT experts discuss jobs going overseas . . . and students coming home (and returning to college). RIT public policy professor and job outsourcing expert Ron Hira, author of Outsourcing America, was quoted in two BusinessWeek articles and in The Manufacturer—all on the same day—about issues related to offshore outsourcing. What’s the
On “Dateline: RIT – The Podcast” this week, RIT marketing professors Neil Hair and Gene Fram give their takes on the popular Web site RateMyProfessors.com, where students can anonymously rate professors on qualities such as levels of clarity, “easiness,” helpfulness and, yes, even “hotness” (with red-hot chili pepper icons signifying “hot” professors). Raters may also leave comments, and “smiley” and “frowny” faces indicate overall
Dateline RIT e-newsletter subscribers, Check your e-mail inbox for the February edition of RIT University News Services’ e-newsletter, Dateline: RIT. This month’s issue features news placements from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Christian Science Monitor, Entrepreneur magazine and other publications. Plus, you’ll find links to the most recent episodes of “Dateline: RIT – The Podcast,” campus news highlights from News & Events, and details about
One week ago, President George W. Bush was preparing to make a historic address to the United States Congress. Not only would it be the first State of the Union address Bush had to deliver to a Democratic Congress, but the first time a female speaker of the House of Representatives ever presided over a State of the Union. Throw in hot-button issues like
A failing grade for BusinessWeek . . . and lawmakers logging on. On "Dateline: RIT – The Podcast" this week, RIT economics professor Thomas Hopkins gives a lesson in Economics 101 about supply-and-demand price elasticity pertaining to healthcare costs. Dr. Hopkins wrote a letter, appearing in the Jan. 29 edition of BusinessWeek, taking the magazine to task for oversimplifying the issue of healthcare pricing.
I’ve been fortunate enough to see some pretty cool things and meet some fairly high-profile people during my brief career. I’ve been inside the White House, interviewed various sports stars and have received “free” admission (as long as I was working) into many different sporting events. Those are some of the perks that accompany the grueling hours and relatively low pay that comes along
I dare say that, by all accounts, Whitney Tressel’s absence from classes today is excusable. The third-year advertising photography student in RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences is in Arizona, where she will take in tonight’s BCS Championship Game. Ohio State and Florida will battle it out for college football supremacy. Now, while many sports lovers may be jealous of Whitney’s good fortune,
As my New Year’s gift to you, my dear blog readers, podcast aficionados and Vienna Carvalho groupies, I give you a special edition of “Dateline: RIT – The Podcast”: Dateline: RIT – Bloopers & Outtakes This special episode features the funniest bloopers, gaffes, stumbles, #@%* and outtakes so far from season 1 of “Dateline: RIT – The Podcast.” So enjoy laughing along with us—and at
The seed was planted during a public relations conference I attended in early June. I attended a workshop on how to successfully place Op-Eds (opinion pieces that run opposite the editorial page in newspapers). During the presentation, it occurred to me that this would be a perfect medium in which to obtain some national media attention for Professor Sam McQuade’s cyber education initiative.
I’m often asked to get press for different events going on at RIT. It may sound relatively straightforward, but given the many things happening in the Rochester region and the small staffs working at local stations and newspapers, it’s often extremely difficult to get people to cover your event instead of something else. It’s particularly challenging if that something else is a tad
Thanks to the hard work of RIT student engineers, led by alumnus Dan Scoville ’05, deep-sea explorers are getting their first look at a commercial sailing vessel that sank to the bottom of Lake Ontario more than 160 years ago. Cool story, right? That’s what we thought when Mike Saffran introduced it to the RIT community last May in an article that appeared in
It’s better to be lucky than good. There is little credit that we can take for discovering that the daughter of Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel is an RIT student. That credit goes to the wonder that is Google. All of us at University News subscribe to receive Google News Alerts, via e-mail, whenever Rochester Institute of Technology is referenced in a news story.
Last June, John Follaco and I attended a public relations conference in Baltimore that featured national reporters and numerous academic panelists discussing how to get national media for your university. While I must admit I did have daydreams of going down to Baltimore and coming away with a CNN interview, I truly did not think anything more would come of it than some
Let’s face it—it can be pretty difficult for many of us mere mortals to get our heads around some of the remarkable research that’s taking place here on campus. One of the neat things about my job is the opportunity to grasp concepts outside of my comfort zone and then relay them to you in a way that makes sense and offers some
People know about RIT—not just in Rochester, or in the Northeast, but all across the country and internationally. As a result of the RIT's strong reputation, many notable news stories simply happen, like yesterday's announcement by Congressman Tom Reynolds of a $1.1 million donation of U.S. Labor Department funds to help create a regional education and training institute for the food and beverage manufacturing
“Waste not, want not.” Sure, we’ve all heard the expression, but have you ever really thought about its meaning. The Web site UsingEnglish.com sums it up by saying, “If you don't waste things, you are less likely to end up lacking.” RIT is working hard to master this philosophy, and the university’s researchers are increasingly being recognized for taking it to an exciting new
A wise, former colleague once gave me a very simple rule to follow regarding effort that applies very well to public relations: “Everything works and nothing doesn’t.” Basically this means that you often never know what particular effort or action is going to lead to the “big story,” but that does not mean the hard work is not productive or ultimately worth it. It
The rankings are coming, the rankings are coming!!! University News is getting ready for the upcoming U.S. News & World Report: America’s Best Colleges rankings. U.S. News is planning to release the rankings on Thursday. This is always good news for RIT. Since the magazine began ranking colleges in 1983, RIT has consistently been listed among the top regional universities. Last year, RIT ranked sixth
The games are gone, but their impact is sure to linger. The 2006 Empire State Games concluded a successful four-day run yesterday, bringing 6,000 athletes, their families and other supporters to Rochester for this annual Olympics-style competition. RIT was the venue for eight (if I’ve been counting correctly) different sporting events, and 2,600 of the athletes from across our state stayed in the
Let me say this again—relationships are the backbone to successful public relations! My emphatic harping on that point often results in some good-natured eye rolling from my students, but it has been proven accurate time and time again. That’s not to say you constantly call up reporters, ask them about their weekend, and then proceed to pitch them the latest nonsense. Maintaining a relationship
The Chronicle of Higher Education published a cover story July 14 addressing the issue of higher education replacing industry in some cities as the economic catalyst. What better place to tell this story than Rochester, N.Y.? Reporter Karin Fischer wisely selected the University of Rochester as the thread for her story. After all, UR is now the No. 1 employer in the Rochester area,
In a community weary of news about brazen violence, there is an opportunity to take comfort in the community-building activities taking part at RIT. On the same day that the mayor of Rochester, Robert Duffy, expressed outrage over the "plague" of violence (8 homicides in 8 days) that has shocked us all, smiles overtook our campus with the introduction of the E. Philip
Ah, the sun, and the pool, and the picnics! Oh, yeah, and the absolute screeching halt to most activities on campus. What's a PR person to write about? The work flow certainly takes on a different complexion within the more relaxed environment of summer on a university campus. While there are much fewer events to report on, summer offers a great opportunity to
Sometimes the best news about RIT isn't directly about RIT. Wow, hope I didn't totally lose you there! What I'm trying to say is certain media placements reflect on the university particularly well when the topic is one of our students, alumni, or maybe even a business that got it's start through technology developed on campus. Take the example of Pictometry International Corp.,
So, Alex Doonesbury thinks RIT is "fine"....but there is some concern that she prefers to be near a "big city." We've been keeping up with Alex through our blog....Alex now seems a tad confused on what to do next...One day it's Cornell, the next day Cal Tech...and now she may simply spend time following Pearl Jam because "they've stopped sucking." Consider this an
Alex Doonsebury is on deadline to pick a college, and RIT is among her favorites. In case you haven't been following, RIT has been featured three times (October 26 , April 13, May 3) in newspapers across the nation in the comic strip Doonesbury. Alex Doonesbury is narrowing her list of top colleges down to a select few. She’s been accepted by RIT,
We spend a lot of time here talking about the research and the experts that get RIT placed in local and national publications. Yeah, it's all great stuff! But that doesn't necessarily shed much light on what makes our university such a remarkable community. Enter the Bright Spot, that highly coveted slice of broadcast real estate that ends every edition of Rochester's top-rated
You say things often enough, people actually remember! Perhaps that's why the editorial board at the Democrat and Chronicle offered a nod to RIT President Albert Simone this past weekend: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/OPINION04/603120316/1041/OPINION There's no question that President Simone's crusade to make RIT a more diverse community, particularly among its faculty, makes us a better and stronger university. Over the years, University News has been
I realize that being a good public relations practitioner is all about staying behind the scenes so that others can enjoy the glory, but let's give credit where credit it due! Following the success of RIT's dedication ceremony for the IT Collaboratory research building on March 3, an event widely covered by the local media, the Democrat and Chronicle ran a brief about
Back in 2000, when I began working toward my MBA, I sat in Professor Phil Tyler's Marketing Concepts course as my classmates each spent a few minutes introducing themselves. After completing the rounds, Professor Tyler made a point of highlighting something I had already noticed, which was the remarkable diversity we collectively represented. Many of the students hailed from foreign countries, such as
Today, if you type, "Rochester Institute of Technology" into Google News and press "search," you will see almost 100 hits with headlines such as, "Study: Helmets reduce head injury risk on ski slopes." That's because Professor Jasper Healy gave the following comment to be included in an AP story: ""Over the past five years, almost 40 percent of skiers and snowboarders who died
Yeah, like so many people in and out of academia, I've been reading Thomas Friedman's book, The World is Flat. Truly eye-opening stuff! I'm never quite sure whether to laugh or cry. When it comes to spreading the news about RIT, a "flatter" world has certainly made it easier for us at University News to extend our reach. Take some recent examples on
The discovery of dusty disks—the building blocks of planets—around two of the most massive stars known suggests that planets might form and survive in surprisingly hostile environments. Say what?! Okay, I know, this is heady stuff, but a recent string of galactic discoveries coming out of RIT's Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science has a lot of important people sitting up and
About a month ago, we reported that RIT researchers were making international news in astronomy (black holes and the Milky Way). Our "Star" faculty are at it again: Congratulations to RIT Professor Joel Kastner (Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science) for his work with NASA and leading a team studying mega stars. His story was referenced by more than 130 web-based news
Okay, I realize we cite him a lot, but bare with me. Eugene Fram, the J. Warren McClure Research Professor in RIT's College of Business, is still the King of ProfNet. ProfNet, you ask? ProfNet is a service we subscribe to at University News where journalists from across the country contact us, and other university PR department, in search of various experts. Recently,
One of the rewarding aspects of life at University News is the opportunity to help RIT receive wide ranging media exposure, especially when it comes in a major national publication. Our campus is home to a variety of remarkable experts, many of whom enjoying sharing their informed perspectives when media comes calling. Ron Hira, professor of public policy in RIT's College of Liberal
Take a look at the folks with the PDA cell phone / pocket PC/ laptop computer in your next seminar / class / meeting. What do you think they're doing on those backlit screens? Are they searching the web for info pertaining to the subject at hand? Are they bringing up the agenda that was e-mailed out before the meeting? Or are they
The College of Science has things moving at warp speed in the field of astrophysics. Last week, the College made international news when it reported on a massive star cluster found in the Milky Way. The college also reported on the depths of black holes. Coverage was out of this world: CNN http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/01/09/space.hole.reut/index.html ">Reuters ">Physics.org For more on RIT news placements, visit the
As I was browsing RIT's blog hits on technorati.com, I came across this post by Ben Rand, blogging for the Democrat & Chronicle. He says, in part: The hot Henrietta company known as Pictometry International has officially joined the escalating "map" wars being waged by the likes of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Pictometry's patented technology for capturing high-resolution aerial digital imagery is a
So now I know why the White House burns out an official spokesperson like every 6 months!! Clinton's visit to RIT was great, but the University News team had to jump through a ton of hoops. Clinton's PR people and the U.S. Secret Service put us through the ringer...Media availability was on again, off again, on again, off again, and then on.... In
Today's Doonesbury comic strip was focused on young Alex's college and career choice to possibly attend RIT. Alumni, students, faculty and members of the Rochester community have been proudly emailing University News all morning to ask the question, "Have you seen the comics page?!" You know, it shouldn't come as a suprise that RIT has made national news again--and in such a fun
When Wegmans Food Markets Inc. announced plans this week to close all its Chase-Pitkins Home & Garden Centers, RIT's Professor Eugene Fram wasted no time sharing word with University News. "Let the media know I'm available to comment," he told us. Fram, the J. Warren McClure Research Professor of Marketing in RIT's College of Business, is a nationally recognized expert on retail.
John Retallack, a faculty member of RIT's School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, has created some haunting images of residents at Monroe Community Hospital. I personally was so TOUCHED by his photographs and the way he captured heartfelt moments, "personalities" and the human-hands of kindness in each and every one of his images. Having graduated from and working at Strong Hospital for a
Blogging in China...Censorship is Good Business?! RIT's David McHardy Reid is getting a lot of play nationally for his view on Microsoft's recent agreement to ban such words as "democracy" and "freedom" on Chinese Web portals. Reid supports the Microsoft decision. Here is his essay, published in USA Today. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer also reported on Reid's commentary. While Reid argues business is business,