Marketing and Communications Office Procedures and Priorities

The primary mission of the College of Arts and Sciences marketing and communications office at Western Michigan University is to serve the College as a whole by increasing the visibility of the College programs; showcasing College faculty, staff and student achievements; enhancing student recruitment; and increasing development and alumni engagement. To achieve these goals, work completed by the College marketing and communications staff is prioritized accordingly.

The marketing and communications office will do everything possible to assist departmental marketing needs by providing templates for layouts, general design advice, guidance regarding WMU graphic policies and support for College-level websites. However, the primary focus of the staff will be on publication and media support for materials that raise the profile of the entire College across and beyond campus. Priority is given to marketing and communication campaigns that involve multiple departments, have College- and University-wide appeal, are likely to attract attention beyond campus, enrich College alumni outreach efforts, or provide support for enhanced student recruiting.

To maximize these efforts, the marketing and communications office will not provide support, other than templates and general design guidance, for items involving a single event or class, such as flyers, brochures, postcards, posters, etc., unless these events are high profile and clearly contribute to the visibility of the College in the broader community, to student recruiting or to alumni and development efforts. In addition, the College of Arts and Sciences marketing and communications office will not accept design requests via the marketing and communications landing page.

We encourage you to continue to submit College events so that we can maintain a calendar of events and disseminate this information broadly. We also ask that you submit information regarding student, staff and faculty achievements; high profile events; national or international recognition of programs and other press-worthy information to the marketing and communications office. We can work with your unit to produce press releases, disseminate appropriate information to University office of Marketing and Strategic Communications and incorporate this information into online College newsletters and a new annual College of Arts and Sciences magazine for friends and alumni of the College.

To request marketing support, please direct all inquiries to marketing manager Michael Worline on each request. Requests for assistance will be assessed and prioritized according to the mission of the marketing and communication office, as described above.