Meet Your Fellow Higher Ed Social Pros – Let’s Connect!

Hi!

• I work in the Office of Admissions at the University of Iowa as a Communications Coordinator with a primary focus on social media management. 
• Something I love about social in higher ed is the energy and community vibe where I get to showcase what makes campus unique every day.
• Herky the Hawk!! 

Hi there! Excited to see this new hub exist!

• I work in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at University of Delaware as an Associate Director, Digital Marketing!
• Something that I love and also find as a challenge, is that by marketing on social media to alumni we have audiences from all walks of life, whether they just graduated last month or are celebrating their 25th reunion! 
• Our mascot is YoUDee, the Blue Hen, a member of the Mascot Hall of Fame! 💙🐓

Hi! So excited to be a part of this group!

• I work in the Office of Admissions at Florida State University in Tallahasse, FL as the Social Media Marketing Manager!
• Something I love is how each day is different and I get to be creative with my work. One thing I find challenging is, well, everything! 😂 I just recently made a career switch from K-12 education to pursuing a career in the marketing world. I am loving it all, but very grateful for groups like this to learn from as I have SO much to learn! 💛
• Florida State Univeristy athletic teams are all called the “Seminoles,” but our mascot is Chief Osceola and Renegade--who ride to the center of the football field with a flaming spear and plant it into the ground! Such a cool tradition! Here’s a quick video if you’ve never seen them! 😁

Hi everyone! Happy to be part of this space.

• I work at UNLV School of Nursing as the Director of Marketing and Communications.
• Social in higher ed can be so fun when you’re trying out fun trends to relate to students, but at the same time, it can be challenging when you have to remind yourself, “How does this benefit their experience?”

Hello Higher Ed Hub! 

• I am the Content Strategist at the University of Indianapolis (private university on the southside of Indy). I write feature stories for our publications, manage our social media channels, and more! 
• One thing I love about working in higher ed is being able to connect with so many inspiring, talented people, from faculty and staff to students and alumni around the world. However, having all of these different audiences makes it challenging to create engaging content, especially for social media. 
• Grady the Greyhound (and, yes, I get to work in the same office as him)!

Hi, everyone! So excited to be part of this community.

• My name is Abbey O’Brien Barrows and I oversee the flagship social media accounts at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia (northwest of Atlanta). We are a large, suburban institution with about 48,000 students!
• I love that higher ed social media has so many audiences - which is also a unique challenge. Prospective students, to current students, to faculty researchers, to donors, etc… 
• We are the Owls and our mascot’s name is Scrappy!

AbbeyBarrows wrote:

Hi, everyone! So excited to be part of this community.

• My name is Abbey O’Brien Barrows and I oversee the flagship social media accounts at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia (northwest of Atlanta). We are a large, suburban institution with about 48,000 students!
• I love that higher ed social media has so many audiences - which is also a unique challenge. Prospective students, to current students, to faculty researchers, to donors, etc… 
• We are the Owls and our mascot’s name is Scrappy!

 

I love your social media channels, especially during the Dec Days campaign! 

• I’m the Communications Coordinator, Sr. for the radiology department of Northwestern University

• I love being in an office full of M.D.s, and physics and biomedical engineering experts. 

• Mascot: the Wildcats 🐾

Hi!!

• I’m the Community Relations Specialist in the continuing education department at Toronto Metropolitan University. I work mostly on organic social + content production
• Our courses are mostly online so I love getting to meet with people in different walks of life/professions + telling their stories on and offsite which is different from working mainly on campus
• Mascot: Frankie the Falcon 🦅

Hi everyone! I’m excited to chat with you all. My name is Haley, and I am the communications officer for the University of Kentucky’s College of Design. I think one of the most unique aspects of higher ed social management is the amount of audiences that our socials have to cater to. From alums who know all about the College to prospective parents/students who are just meeting us, there has to be a fine balance in the content we put out. Here at UK, our mascot is the Wildcat (right) ! Fun fact: there is also a more kid friendly version of the Wildcat named Scratch (left). UK is also my alma mater, so go CATS! 🐱💙

tlwatts96 wrote:

Hello Higher Ed Hub! 

• I am the Content Strategist at the University of Indianapolis (private university on the southside of Indy). I write feature stories for our publications, manage our social media channels, and more! 
• One thing I love about working in higher ed is being able to connect with so many inspiring, talented people, from faculty and staff to students and alumni around the world. However, having all of these different audiences makes it challenging to create engaging content, especially for social media. 
• Grady the Greyhound (and, yes, I get to work in the same office as him)!

 

Ugh, I wish I worked with Grady! 

Hello everyone! 

 

• I work at New England Law | Boston and I am an Associate Marketing Director here. I work a ton on Social Media and General Marketing Efforts 

• I love finding unique stories to showcase the strengths of my school

• We don’t have a mascot! But our logo is a Local Boston Bridge 😁

Hi there, everyone!

• I work in the Office of Campus Communications at Fullerton College as a Communications Specialist. Fun fact: Fullerton College is one of the oldest community colleges in continuous operation in the state of California.

• One thing I love about working social in higher ed is getting to work with the incredibly talented students, staff and faculty in creating fun and engaging content that resonates with the broader community.

• Our school mascot is Buzzy the Hornet! 🐝

  

   

Hi everyone!

• I’m Jo and I’m the Industry Engagement Coordinator at the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) where I do comms, stakeholder engagement, events and media relations. BCEC is an independent economics and social policy research centre based at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia.
• I love being able to tell our research stories via social media and demonstrate our centre’s impact and outcomes, but I find it challenging strategising and having time for content creation while balancing the other priorities of my role.
• Curtin University’s mascot is Carl the Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo, an endangered species of black cockatoo found in southwest Western Australia.

I’d be keen to hear from other research-focused social media professionals in the higher ed space!

Hey there!

• I work at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) in Green Bay, Wisconsin (Go Pack Go!). We also have a campus in Marinette, WI and in Sturgeon Bay, WI along with other learning centers in rural communities in our area. We are a two-year public technical college and we were recently a Top 10 Aspen Prize Finalist for Community College Excellence! I work in marketing as a Digital Content Specialist. In my role, I run our main NWTC social media accounts and give guidance to those who run our other accounts. I also gather student/alumni stories and develop content to tell their stories and assist with other blog content. I also run our social media ads.

• I came from healthcare marketing into higher ed, and without a doubt, social in higher ed is more fun and enjoyable. I like hearing our student and alumni stories, and how NWTC has impacted their lives. We have an alum who even got a tattoo of our eagle logo!

• Our mascot is an eagle named Newton! 

  

   

Hi all! 

• I’m Liz and I work at the University of Notre Dame as the Senior Social Media Manager in our central comms office. I lead a team of 2 (+ our first summer intern ever right now) and we’re responsible for the flagship accounts wherever we’re @NotreDame and also provide support to our campus communicators who touch social media.
• I absolutely love working in higher ed social because we’re all so collaborative. Coming from a B2B company, the openness and willingness of anyone to help me out was eye opening when I joined the field, and 13 years later I’m still just as inspired by the work you all are doing and the support we all lend each other.
• We’re the Fighting Irish. Fun fact: I have a bit of a phobia about mascots that are humans that have a costume because our leprechauns are just real people dressed in green suits. I am ALSO insanely jealous of all of your mascots that DO have costumes because of the ability to do face reveals at Commencement … we still get some cool photos though:

Hi!

• Ohio University — Senior Manager, University Social Media (covering main institutional channels + alumni association and student affairs/student life channels)
• Higher ed has its unique challenges, but I love finding ways to connect trends/pop culture to an institution and feeling like I’m contributing to something good. At the end of the day, our work helps students find the place that is the path to their future! I also love the opportunity to work with students. My own mentors in college transformed my life and my perception of myself. I love getting to be a small part of a student’s journey to discovering who they are and what their future holds!
• We’re the Bobcats! 😸💚

Very excited about this group being created! Hi y’all, I’m Liana 👋🏼

• I am the Associate Director of Social Media at SMU in Dallas, TX

• I love working with the students on campus, and it’s my favorite part of my job. Getting to invest in the people who are going to change and shape the world is so fulfilling, not to mention just a lot of fun!

• Our mascot is a pony named Peruna!

Looking forward to connecting with all of you!

Hi everyone! Really excited about this group!

• My name is Elizabeth and I'm the Director of University Social Media at Loyola University Chicago. Along with my colleague, and occasionally some interns, we are responsible for the flagship social media accounts @loyolachicago and work with campus partners on social media best practices and strategy. 
• As a proud Loyola alum, I love that my job lets me showcase the university every day in the hopes that future students fall in love with their Loyola experience, just like I did.
• We are the Ramblers, but our mascot is LU Wolf. 

Hi everyone, my name is Jeremy and I’m the social media manager at Davidson College. I’d say one of the biggest challenges I’m facing on social is keeping tabs on the latest obstacles being thrown at higher ed by the current administration. I’ve worked in the field of social media management for nearly 20 years (and in higher ed specifically for about 10 years) and this is the first time that I can recall having this level of scrutiny/interference.

On a much lighter note, our mascot is Roary the Wildcat 🐾! 

I’m really looking forward to connecting with y’all here and learning from your experiences and expertise.

Hi my name is Hayley Bowring and I am the Communications Strategist for Career Services at the University of Idaho! Go Vandals!💛🖤

❤One thing that I love about social in higher ed is sometimes the freedom you get when creating fun content for students that they find funny or enjoy. I love that I create content that helps educate but also entertain students.

🤔What’s uniquely challenging is that there are so many different social media accounts associated with your institution and there is so much going on that it’s hard to fight the noise.

Our mascot is Joe Vandal!

Greetings all. I am interested in connecting with professionals who are assigned to individual units (e.g., colleges or schools), especially business schools. See below to discover why.

• My name is Shaun Bailey, and I am a new employee at the University of Michigan-Flint. That is where I am a communications specialist assigned to its School of Management.
• One thing I find challenging about higher-ed social media is that I have to juggle it with many other responsibilities. Consequently, it ranks lower on my list of priorities than I would like.
• The thing I love about higher-ed social media is the insight and levity it can bring to daily life.
• Despite being a satellite campus, our mascot is also the wolverine.

Hello everyone! Excited to join the group and appreciate Sprout providing a platform for us all to utilize as higher ed marketing opportunities are every changing. 

• I’m Bill Gaither, assistant manager of marketing at Carl Sandburg College, a community college located in west-central Illinois. My primary functions are photography, videography/multimedia, and social media management. When not executing roles for those I help with copy/proofreading, website,...we’re a small team at a small school so you get it when I wrap this up saying I can wear a lot of hats. ☺️
• My biggest question at the moment is the “correct” way to use Reels and Tiktoks when music choices are limited on the business accounts. As higher ed institutions, we should lead the charge on the correct way to use the platforms, meaning are we licensing the correct music, simply using workarounds like CapCut and checking the “yes it’s ours” box on TikTok, etc. This may be a bit on the nose but when I try to ask colleagues and point these things out, it’s crickets...so if anyone can comment or help on this specific topic on the correct workflow and using music correct, please let me know. 🙌
• Our mascot is the Chargers, based off the notion of the old war horses charging into battle. While this tended to be sports-specific for a few years, a recent brand refresh has now included it to help marry the academic and athletic sides of the house. Initial buy-in has been good but it’s early days so we’re continuing to build this out, and at the moment investigating bringing the print Chargers image to life as a mascot for athletics, academic, and community engagement opportunities.

  

   

Hello all! 

I’m Jenny Li Fowler, director of social media strategy at MIT. One thing I love about higher is the people. I’ve met some amazing people in the higher ed social space and I’m looking forward to engaging with you all here! Our mascot is Tim the Beaver! (Tim is MIT backwards and the beaver is nature’s engineer 😄 )

Hi all, 
I’m Bryan Navarro, Executive Director of Advancement Communications at Saint Mary’s College of California, my alma mater. I’m a team of one (plus some student workers) overseeing strategy and execution on all our comms channels, including social.

I love the ability to play and experiment on social. Testing out messages, executions, call-and-response. It feels like my fingers are on the pulse of our community and I can feel a change coming early. I appreciate the opportunity to be more casual and have autonomy since I run the alumni account, not the institutional account. I’m also forutnate that we’re a smaller, private college where there are fewer critical eyeballs on our pages. There’s lots of room for higher ed to catch up to brands and creators across the rest of the internet. Let’s have some fun!

Saint Mary’s is the home of the Gaels. And if you know what a Gael is, you’re ahead of the game! 

Looking forward to meeting and and chatting with you here!