Canton Reporter

Kent State’s unseen messengers, the staff at University Communications and Marketing (UCM), have helped the university be recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for its work throughout 2020 and 2021. 

The last two years were filled with major events across campus and around the world. UCM was tasked with continuously updating students, faculty and staff on the constantly evolving landscape. 

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, UCM was challenged to create a campaign to help the Kent State community manage these tough times together.

The university’s response was to create a campaign that could be adjusted as the pandemic progressed. The Flashes Safe 7 premiered as a way to help students and staff navigate the uncertainty. After the vaccines were approved, the campaign was updated to the Flashes Safe 8.

The success of the Flashes Safe 8 was widely recognized by local, national and international committees, receiving multiple awards from the MarCom Awards (an international competition for marketing and communication professionals) and the AVA Digital Awards. 

“Some of them are global awards. Some of them, like the Akron ADDYs, are focused on our region,” said Todd Snider, assistant vice president of marketing strategy at UCM. “We’re entering stuff regionally, nationally and globally.”

Multiple publications on campus have been recognized for this work, including the official university magazine, Kent State Magazine. 

Kent State Magazine publishes two issues a year (which appear in both digital and print editions) that are sent to full time faculty and staff, alumni, parents of first-year students, donors, media and other members of the community. During the 2020/2021 academic year, the two issues focused on two major events: the 50th anniversary of the May 4, 1970 shootings and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

The spring/summer 2020 issue, which focused on the May 4 50th Commemoration, won multiple awards, including distinctions from the MarCom Awards and the Educational Digital Marketing Awards.

The MarCom Awards honor excellence in quality, creativity and resourcefulness. Kent State won the highest distinction, a platinum MarCom Award, for the spring/summer 2020 print edition of Kent State Magazine,  recognizing the magazine’s efforts in covering the 50th commemoration of the May 4, 1970 shootings.

Due to the magazine’s production schedule, content is created months in advance. When the university shut down in the early days of the pandemic, the plans for the May 4 50th commemoration were canceled just weeks before the spring/summer 2020 issue went to print causing editor Jan Senn had to pivot her plans.

“Although many public events, programs and projects were canceled, some already  had a digital aspect and others were quickly turned into websites,” Senn said. “I focused on those so readers could still experience the commemoration in some way, even if they couldn’t take part in person..” 

The Black Lives Matter fall/winter 2021-22 issue had its own disruption.  A small story Senn had planned, about the longstanding campus tradition of leaving messages on Kent State’s Rock, took a turn after the death of George Floyd in May. When racist messages appeared on the Rock in August, they sparked protests and prompted a series of dialogues among members of the Kent State community.  

“It was just going to be a photo spread and it evolved into the university magazine’s cover story,” said Senn. “The Rock became a symbol of what was going on in the nation at the time, and the magazine covered the action steps the university was taking to support students and other community members hurt by these racist actions—including a new policy on painting the Rock.”

The issue received recognition from the MarCom Awards, taking home a platinum award for the digital edition and a gold award for the print edition. It also received a bronze award from the Educational Digital Marketing awards.

These awards recognize the cross-campus effort that goes into these projects. UCM works with other campus offices that help inform the work they do. Some of the offices include the Admissions office, Office of Global Education, the Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement, the Office of Student Affairs and many more.  

“We never say ‘Kent State University Communications and Marketing won,’ it's always ‘Kent State won,’“ Snider said. ”There are so many different people throughout the university that not only help inform us on these projects, but collaborate with us to make them award winning. We are so fortunate to have many smart and amazing people working with us that makes the work outstanding.” 

To learn more about UCM visit www.kent.edu/ucm.

To learn about the MarCom Awards visit marcomawards.com.

To learn about the Educational Digital marketing Awards visit educationdigitalmarketingawards.com.