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
The fall issue of RIT: The University Magazine will be in the mail on Aug. 4. That means we’re now at work on the winter issue. Sounds weird but it really does take many months for our little team to gather the information, write and edit the stories, shoot the photos and develop the design for a 48-page (sometimes larger) publication. The schedule includes
Besides being the title of a song by the band of geek pop junkies called 'Lemon Demon,' I'd like these words to act as a vehicle for tech musings. You have probably heard of the wave of social networking that's sweeping the internet right now. Sites like facebook.com, myspace.com, digg.com, and 9rules.com are each examples of social networks in their own form (Some folks
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
I read recently that the average American reads only about a book a year. I’m sure the number is greater in higher education—among both faculty and students—but it made me realize: I guess I’m not “average” (at least not this year—I’m working on my sixth since around the start of the year). Just days ago, I bought four more—one about the FCC, two on
It was one of my first tasks upon joining the ranks of University News. Biljana Mancic, one of our students at the American College of Management and Technology in Croatia, was named Miss Croatia and would be competing in the Miss Universe competition July 23 in Los Angeles. It was my job to interview her. My reaction? ‘Sweet gig. I’m gonna love this job.’ I should
Before I begin, let's ask Wikipedia.org to describe the terms 'unconference', and 'BarCamp.' Unconference: An unconference is a conference where the content of the sessions is driven and created by the participants, generally day-by-day during the course of the event, rather than by a single organizer, or small group of oganizers, in advance. (more...) BarCamp: BarCamp is an international network of unconferences -- open, participatory
How does the N&E editorial team decide what will appear on the front page of News & Events each issue? Some N&E critics may choose to believe that our stories are tossed onto a flight of stairs, and the ones that land on the first four steps will make the front page. Well, our lead stories aren’t actually selected that way, but truth
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,
Hi Folks! As you can see, we've made some adjustments to the Tiger Beat Blog you all know and love. What began as some distaste with the CSS that MovableType generates, has become a full-blown redesign. We chose to move to Wordpress for it's administrative user interface, the price, and for the code it generates. After investigating and poking and making a bunch of mistakes,
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
This week I'd like to present some of the tools I used in creating the soon-to-be-live, shiny, spanking-new Tiger Beat Blog. Blogging software: Wordpress Bug tracker: 16Bugs Layout & design: Adobe Photoshop CS2 Coding: Macrodobe Dreamweaver 8 Wordpress was wonderful to work with. Having no previous knowledge of it's inner workings, after a week of coding and tweaking and learning, I now consider
Last time, I explained that RIT University News is exploring podcasting. One of our first regular podcasts might be an audio version of Dateline: RIT, a monthly e-newsletter that highlights select RIT news placements and News & Events stories. Because a primary mission of University News is publicizing RIT news (see More on who we are and what we do), I hope to expand
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