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Up-to-date University of Wisconsin Oshkosh news is only a click away, thanks to a new online publication produced by the University’s Integrated Marketing and Communications (IMC) department.

UW Oshkosh Today (www.uwosh.edu/news) serves as an all-in-one portal for anyone looking for institutional news, campus events and features about the individuals who make the University such a dynamic place to learn, work and live. It is the first publication of its kind at the University.

“The move toward a comprehensive online news source for the university moves the integrated marketing and communications strategy another step forward,” said Jeanette DeDiemar, executive director of IMC.

“UW Oshkosh Today is a relevant information resource for the institution’s many audiences, external and internal. This online publication deploys both time-saving technology for the University’s news team who manage the site as well as a more intuitive layout than the predecessor,” DeDiemar said.

“With UW Oshkosh Today, we can post a story in a matter of minutes instead of adhering to weekly or bimonthly deadlines. We can update the site continually, which means we have the opportunity to post more campus-related content and reach a wider audience,” said Jaime Hunt, the associate director, news and public information.

UW Oshkosh Today replaces The Bulletin as the University’s main vehicle for internal communications. The Bulletin began a number of years ago as a print-only publication distributed to faculty and staff. The Bulletin was made available online in 2003, however later versions of the software required the use of HTML code, the process of uploading an issue was time consuming.

Whereas The Bulletin catered mostly to University employees, UW Oshkosh Today presents news and feature articles for and about students, alumni, faculty and staff, and the greater community, including stories about faculty research and features profiling the off-campus achievements of the University’s diverse population.

Other UW Oshkosh Today features include local-weather reports, links to University-related Web sites and top headlines at CNN, and a subscription service for readers who want newly posted articles delivered to an e-mail account. Many of its components were the direct result of suggestions garnered from a survey IMC sent out to faculty and staff across campus.

UW Oshkosh Today also gives its readers the chance to submit their own stories and calendar entries. To send in details for campus events that are open to the public, click on the “Submit” icon in the upper-right corner of the page. To submit articles or suggestions for future features, e-mail uwot@uwosh.edu.

“While the university news team maintains the site, UW Oshkosh Today really belongs to the campus community,” Hunt said. “We look forward to working with everyone to keep the site as current and relevant as possible.”

“In the land of optimized search-engine technology and instant news, the site will also boost service to the media sector, which relies on the University as a diverse resource for expertise as well as a news source,” DeDiemar said.

University news: an abbreviated history

Welcome to the 21st century, where e-mail announcements are zipped off to staff and students in the blink of an eye, and Web sites can impart loads of information without contributing to deforestation.

But prior to the Information Age and the world of ipods, Zunes and text messaging, those who distributed University news depended upon on more primitive means of enlightening their colleagues and classmates. In fact, based on historical record, for almost the first 100 years of its existence, the institution had relatively no consistent method for getting the word out to its constituents.

“Prior to 1963, I know of no standard mechanism for sharing administrative news with the faculty and staff besides memos,” said Joshua Ranger, University archivist.

What follows is Ranger’s recap of the University’s internal communications:

  • 1871 — From Day 1, there was a publication called a Bulletin that contained rules, policies, coursework and programs of the school. Only occasionally, were there “special number” Bulletins dealing with other topics, such as the celebration of the life of a valued teacher or institutional anniversaries.
  • c. 1917-1930 — President Harry A. Brown sent out “Executive Bulletins” to his faculty and even numbered them for several years.
  • c. 1931-1959 — President Forrest R. Polk sent out memos as “Faculty Bulletins” to highlight developments he wanted to share generally with the faculty.
  • 1963-1968 — A weekly publication called Faculty Facts & Features was introduced. It included a calendar for the week, news stories and a section of faculty career news, activities, promotions and publications.
  • 1968-1973 — Faculty Facts & Features was changed to Faculty Features. The inclusion of hard-news articles diminished, and more focus was put on faculty career announcements, general statements and long-range news.
  • 1967 — The first edition of Today’s Faculty Bulletin promised to “offer an added opportunity for dispersing timely information as well as providing a means of bringing together in one place as many notices and announcements as possible.” The semiweekly publication was often no longer than one side of a printed page and contained notices of meetings as well as the schedule of cultural and educational events.
  • 1972-2003 — Today’s Faculty Bulletin had a few name changes, shortening to The Faculty Bulletin and then The Bulletin, only to revert back to The Faculty Bulletin before finally settling on The Bulletin once more. By 1975, it had grown to a four-page, folded newsletter. It was comprised of longer stories that once were printed in Faculty Facts & Features, but not as much faculty career information. In 2003, PDF copies of the printed editions were posted online.
  • 1976-2001 — A magazine-style publication called Context debuted, covering faculty research and achievements.
  • 2004-2007 — The Bulletin no longer was produced on paper but was available online.
  • 2007 — After 35 years in business, The Bulletin retires. UW Oshkosh Today, the institutions first truly comprehensive online news resource takes up the tradition of reporting faculty and staff news while incorporating other audiences as well, including students, alumni and the greater Oshkosh community.

User tips

UW Oshkosh Today is best viewed using Firefox 2.0 or Internet Explorer 7.0. To make the site your homepage in Firefox, click on Tools, then Options, then Main and type http://www.uwosh.edu/news in the box labeled Home Page. To make the site your homepage in Internet Explorer, click on Tools, then Internet Options, then General and type http://www.uwosh.edu/news in the box underneath Home Page.

To subscribe to an RSS feed of the site, you must use Firefox 2.0 or Internet Explorer 7.0. To subscribe to receive a feed of the entire site, click on “Subscribe” on the top of the site. To subscribe to specific sections, click on the category then click on the orange button on the left side of the page.