How can we make it easier for you to share and receive news, announcements and event information with and from the Willamette community? Your colleagues in University Communications and Web Development have been asking this question.
We’ve listened to your feedback and made revisions to the Bearcat Bulletin, the online events calendar and to campus mail groups that we anticipate will improve our community’s internal communications.
Bearcat Bulletin changes
The Bearcat Bulletin will split into two email publications from Oct. 1 — Today@Willamette and The Willamette University Bulletin. The daily bulletin will provide a one-stop shop for campus announcements and events, while reducing the amount of duplicated information you receive via email. Everyone with a university email address receives the bulletin.
Today@Willamette
This daily bulletin will arrive every morning in your inbox with two simple sections: Things to Know and Things to Do.
Things to Do will list the campus events for the next 48 hours. To have your event featured, you’ll need to first enter it into the university’s new online calendar.
Things to Know will feature news items submitted by students, faculty and staff members. These announcements are meant for the larger Willamette community and include recognitions, publications and honors; updates from departments, offices and campus partners; student organizations’ news; information regarding employee transitions and departures; tickets going on sale; RSVP announcements; and more. Departments and offices will have the option to tag these announcements, so they appear on their webpages’ story feeds.
Announcements must be submitted by 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday to appear in the next morning’s bulletin. Friday submissions will be published Monday, as Today@Willamette will only feature events on weekends. Announcements submitted over the weekend will appear in the Tuesday edition. Announcements will be lightly curated by University Communications to exclude spam and events.
For asks or offers regarding items for a very specific audience, please use Willamette Switchboard. Moderated by the Alumni Office, this Craigslist-like forum allows students, employees, parents, alumni and friends of the university to “ask for what you need” and “offer what you have.” If you’re selling items, looking to network with alumni about jobs, seeking roommates and the like, try Switchboard.
The Willamette University Bulletin
The weekly bulletin — renamed the Willamette University Bulletin — will move to Wednesday afternoons and continue to be a comprehensive and official source for Willamette University news and updates from campus leadership.
The weekly will have a new featured events section that will highlight a few upcoming events selected by University Communications. Some of the old bulletin content will remain in the new weekly — Comings, Goings, Job Postings and In the Media. The Comings will now be fed by WorkDay, so we can welcome all new employees.
Events calendar update
Today is the first day you can enter events into the university’s new events calendar — Events Publisher. To submit an event, sign into the university portal, scroll down to Scheduling & Events in the left column and click on “Events Calendar: Submit an Event.” Here’s a tutorial for using the new calendar.
The calendar simplifies event submission, allowing users to edit their entries, upload multiple images and much more.
Community members will also be able to automatically populate their Google calendars with events hosted by their favorite departments and student organizations. Instructions for this feature will be available in the in the coming month. Watch the bulletin for more information.
Please help us get the word out by submitting your events. The calendar populates Today@Willamette and the university website’s many calendar feeds. Alumni, parents, local media and residents of the Mid-Valley also use the calendar to see what’s happening on campus.
Google Groups migration
Campus mail groups — email distribution lists such as wu-community and cla-students — will move from the university’s website to Google Groups beginning in October. Course mail groups owned by faculty members will remain in the current system through the end of the semester. Web Development will contact group owners with instructions for the migration.
Questions and resources
Please direct questions regarding the new bulletin to Tom Mayhall Rastrelli, director of digital communications and bulletin editor. Resources for the new bulletin are now available: submissions and more information.
If you have questions about the new events calendar, there is help on the website. If the online documentation doesn’t answer your questions, email web-applications@willamette.edu.
Direct questions about the Google Groups migration to web-applications@willamette.edu.
Thank you for your patience as we make these transitions. Please continue to share your feedback, so we can continue to improve our communications.