Sweeping changes are afoot in SIUC's marketing operation today as its employees operate under a new name and university administrators look to students to help spread the word about the campus.
Media and Communication Resources, a department criticized for bureaucratic tactics and lack of a marketing plan, is now University Communications. Its leadership has also downsized to one director overseeing five departments, ranging from public relations to web services.
Aiming to turn around a university that many say has failed to properly promote itself, SIUC leaders on Tuesday detailed the changes they see as a fresh start for the campus.
"We tend to be understated," interim Chancellor John Dunn said. "We haven't been consistent in telling our story and bragging about ourselves."
A new unit dedicated to advertising and marketing is included in the overhaul. Terry Clark, chairman of the marketing department, will lead the group until December while keeping his position in the College of Business and Administration.
According to material that outlined the changes, Clark will lay the foundation for SIUC's marketing endeavors. After that, a full-time leader will be sought.
Six students -paid $10 hour for a maximum 20-hour workweek - will assist Clark and the rest of University Communications. Their paychecks are supported by a $500,000 budget the university committed to marketing in the fall.
Four students have been hired and administrators are searching for two others, Dunn said.
Material crafted by the students will sport the tagline "Imagined and produced by students at SIU Carbondale," Clark said.
Dunn said SIUC will seek other students to assist in the marketing drive, and class credit will be awarded.
The new marketing operation also eliminates the executive director position - most recently held by university Internet analyst Sue Davis - and four associate director spots.
The restructuring is due largely in part to a harsh analysis of SIUC by the Washington, D.C.-based SimpsonScarborough marketing firm. A report by the company said the university lacks pride, needs a strategic marketing plan and should revamp the department tasked with promoting the campus.
Clark said that while the revamped department is meant to rejuvenate a stagnant operation, much work is needed to produce results.
"Our problems didn't happen overnight and they're not going to go away overnight," Clark said.
Mike Ruiz, communications director for the Office of the President, is interim director of University Communications and led the department's restructuring.
He said the title changes do not translate into cut positions or reduced salaries.
"No one's losing their job, no one's losing their status in the organization," he said.
Ruiz said the marketing report that spurred the reorganization was not necessarily a wake-up call for SIUC, just a source of motivation.
Problems have been around for at the past decade, Ruiz said, and recent developments prompted the university to act.
"It took things like the declining enrollment to get people's attention," he said.
Separate departments will produce university press releases, update and maintain the SIUC Web site, provide photography, promote the campus and create new marketing material, Ruiz said.
Kathleen Hendrick, a first year master's of business student from Carbondale, is one of the students hired for the marketing operation.
She said she is excited to be part of the endeavor.
"We have great professors and a great campus," she said. "I like we have a lot of opportunity at this university and we need to tell everyone."
brandon_weisenberger@dailyegyptian.com 536-3311 ext. 253
