Rebecca Reid, president of the Staff Senate at Metropolitan State University of Denver, opened Tuesday’s meeting by recognizing and applauding the Policy Review Committee; the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee; and the Communications Committee for their work during the 2021-22 academic year.
Internal communications presentation
Next, Internal Communications Manager Lindsey Coulter shared a presentation on internal communications at MSU Denver, including information regarding the Early Bird. Coulter began by breaking down the University’s various internal and/or external communications tools, such as Outlook, various student- and employee-facing pages within the MSU Denver website, the ’Runner, the Nest, the University Events Calendar and more.
Coulter also provided more background on the Early Bird, which is MSU Denver’s official employee communication and features employee-facing and employee-specific news, information and general content. The publication serves all faculty and staff members, student employees and invested community members, and it publishes, on average, 1,000 stories annually.
“All stories are valuable, and the Early Bird aims to find equitable communication solutions for all employee-facing inquiries and requests,” Coulter said in explaining the Early Bird’s editorial standards and processes.
For example, content must be relevant and valuable to employees and reflective of the University’s brand, mission, vision and values; professional, grammatically correct and accessible; and, ideally, submitted at least one week in advance of the requested publishing date.
She also highlighted recent changes and improvements, such as an improved website and refreshed email template. University Communications and Marketing’s goal is to continue optimizing the Early Bird website to improve search function, aesthetics and functionality; conducting an internal communications audit; selecting a new intake and project-management tool; considering changes to the email template based on user feedback; and optimizing the MSU Denver app.
Coulter explained that story placement within the Early Bird is “essentially a science and an art” informed by data and metrics as well as the team’s internal category criteria spreadsheet; alignment with presidential priorities or the 2030 Strategic Plan; timing and urgency; scope; availability of imagery; and other factors.
Offering a sneak peek at findings from the Early Bird Readership Survey, Coulter shared that staff members accounted for 124 of the 186 respondents, with faculty members at 47, student employees at 13 and two respondents identified as “Other.”
- Nearly 72% are daily Early Bird readers; 20% open two to three emails weekly.
- 63% of respondents prefer a daily communication; 25% prefer two to three per week; and 10% prefer weekly.
- 83% feel the Early Bird to some degree reflects MSU Denver’s mission, vision and values (60% yes; 32% somewhat).
- 90% feel the Early Bird to some degree reflects MSU Denver’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (54% yes; 36% somewhat).
- 80% feel the Early Bird to some degree highlights all schools, colleges, programs, teams, etc. (38% yes; 42% somewhat).
Articles pertaining to presidential news, events and updates; budget and financial information; health and safety/Covid-19 information; University Policy updates; and Human Resources news and updates were identified as most useful. Watch for a more in-depth article on survey findings in the Early Bird soon.
Senate business
- Brandi Rideout, senior director of Alumni Relations, was named vice president with the most write-in votes.
- Bridget Wetzel, online student services manager, was appointed as secretary by Reid before her appointment was unanimously passed by the Senate.
- The Academic Affairs senator seat is still vacant, but it does not need to be voted on once a person is appointed.
- New senators and officers will receive documents including an onboarding guide, a survey for committee preference and other important information.
- The Staff Senate will hold a retreat July 26.
- Reid is also updating Outlook and Teams groups to include new members.
- In-person attendance will now be encouraged for members, but a hybrid option will still be available for those unable to attend.
- The next Staff Senate meeting will be July 12.
