Paper Title

Marketing our Programs in Tough Economic Times: A Roundtable Discussion

Location

Room 217, West Center

Keywords

marketing, recruitment, retention, companion majors, living learning communities, social media

Start Date

1-4-2016 3:30 PM

End Date

1-4-2016 4:45 PM

Abstract

Marketing our Programs in Tough Economic Times: A Roundtable Discussion

Abstract: This roundtable will offer practical strategies for robust marketing of WS/WGSS majors, minors, and graduate certificates in times of economic austerity and within climates that are often actively hostile to the humanities in general and feminism in particular. Even with shrinking university budgets and increasingly chilly campus climates, we find we are well-positioned as a discipline and well-prepared as activist-scholars to be strategic about marketing our programs. Contextualizing our methods in recent feminist research, we offer "best practices" that address the challenges our programs face: marketing programs in the face of diminishing resources and data-driven administrative pressures; successful recruitment of new students on campus, in the community, and across the region with an eye to retention tactics to maintain current students; innovative curriculum development with gen-ed and companion majors, cross-listed courses, and academic-based living learning communities; creative collaborations on campus and with community partners; student-created marketing; publicizing WS/WGSS career successes; selling the major to wider publics; showcasing our social justice mandate as central to the intellectual work of our discipline; and effective uses of social media (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BuzzFeed, Instagram, etc).

Structure: After brief presentations, organized thematically around solving similar challenges on different campuses, we’ll invite larger discussion. We will provide a resources e-page and add resources from the group to share after the roundtable.

Comments

Audio visual request: computer, projector, monitor

Please Note: Panel Participants, their university affiliations, ranks, and contact information, are also listed on attached document.

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Apr 1st, 3:30 PM Apr 1st, 4:45 PM

Marketing our Programs in Tough Economic Times: A Roundtable Discussion

Room 217, West Center

Marketing our Programs in Tough Economic Times: A Roundtable Discussion

Abstract: This roundtable will offer practical strategies for robust marketing of WS/WGSS majors, minors, and graduate certificates in times of economic austerity and within climates that are often actively hostile to the humanities in general and feminism in particular. Even with shrinking university budgets and increasingly chilly campus climates, we find we are well-positioned as a discipline and well-prepared as activist-scholars to be strategic about marketing our programs. Contextualizing our methods in recent feminist research, we offer "best practices" that address the challenges our programs face: marketing programs in the face of diminishing resources and data-driven administrative pressures; successful recruitment of new students on campus, in the community, and across the region with an eye to retention tactics to maintain current students; innovative curriculum development with gen-ed and companion majors, cross-listed courses, and academic-based living learning communities; creative collaborations on campus and with community partners; student-created marketing; publicizing WS/WGSS career successes; selling the major to wider publics; showcasing our social justice mandate as central to the intellectual work of our discipline; and effective uses of social media (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BuzzFeed, Instagram, etc).

Structure: After brief presentations, organized thematically around solving similar challenges on different campuses, we’ll invite larger discussion. We will provide a resources e-page and add resources from the group to share after the roundtable.