Frequently asked questions about Today@Willamette

Plan ahead! Promote events in advance to give others a chance to anticipate it. Save the Dates must link to the event listing on the university’s online calendar.

Here's how:

1. Select “Save the Date” in the category field of the submission form.
2. Submit your event to university’s events calendar.
3. Copy the event webpage’s URL
4. Submit your “Save the Date” to Today.

If people are gathering at a specific time and place, it is an event.

Events must be on campus or sponsored by or affiliated with a university office, department or ASWU-recognized student organization. This includes:

• Food drives, campaigns for awareness, voter registration drives, free admission to events.
• Application deadlines for study abroad, scholarships, etc., should be submitted to the calendar. But these can also be submitted separately as a news item when the applications open.

News and announcements include:

• Good news about community members. Publications, awards, grants, competition results, fundraiser results/thank yous, etc. that are related to students’ studies or employees’ professional work at Willamette.
• News on employee transitions, including information regarding interim plans or farewell or retirement gatherings. New employees will automatically be listed. Supervisors should consult HR if unsure about whether to share farewell information.
• Information community members need to know. This includes changes to hours of operation, ticket sales, parking notices, sign-ups, calls for applications to scholarships and programs, calls for volunteers.
• Updates from campus leaders, departments, offices and student orgs.
• Application deadlines, signups, clothing, food or book drives, register to vote.

Personal transactions, such as roommate searches, items for sale, networking with alumni about jobs, etc., should appear in the 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.”

Today@Willamette is reserved for news related to students’ studies, research or cocurricular involvement and employees’ professional work at Willamette. Submissions for personal news unrelated to one’s role at the university will not be included.

In general, direct surveying of the Willamette community or its subgroups is not allowed. To ensure compliance with institutional policies, Willamette Today does not post any survey or data-collection solicitations that have not been explicitly approved by the Office of the Provost. If you would like to request such approval, please contact Kelley Strawn (kstrawn@willamette.edu, x6196), Assistant Provost for Institutional Research.

Regular publishing schedule

The submission deadline is noon on Friday to appear in the following week’s edition(s). Changes submitted after the deadline are not guaranteed.

Summer Schedule

Today@Willamette is published weekly on Wednesdays during the summer months (May 20–Aug. 26, 2023). The submission deadline is Monday at 11:59 p.m.

Only one announcement is allowed per week. If you opt to submit the same announcement twice, the submission form will automatically offer the following week's dates. 

Generally, mass email groups are reserved for messages essential to the operations or mission of the university, notifications from the president, campus safety, chaplains and HR, and situations that require immediate action from the entire community. Please submit other events and announcements, including “Save the Date” announcements, to the bulletin.

These email groups include wu-community, wu-colleagues, wu-staff, wu-faculty and wu-students.

After you submit an announcement, you should receive an email confirmation.

Issue Date: Select the date you want your announcement to appear in Today@Willamette.

Category: Select announcement for announcements, event for events (which will redirect you to the online calendar system for your submission), Save the Date for future events, or one of the categories about employees coming, going or changing positions.

Title (up to 60 characters): The headline announcement. You want something that is on the nose in order to get the attention of the people who would be interested in your announcement.

Teaser (up to 60 characters; optional): One sentence that provides more context to your title/headline. Say something that will get those who need to know the information to click on your announcement.

Announcement Content: Type in your full announcement here. 

Other fields: The remaining items are explained on the submission form.

In the confirmation email for your submission, you'll find a direct link to your announcement that allows you to edit and fix your mistake. Submitters are responsible for fixing their own mistakes.

If you are unable to access the announcement and have revisions to make, please email wu-today@willamette.edu with your revisions. Changes after Thursday’s noon deadline are not guaranteed. 

Sign into the Willamette University portal (My Willamette). Go to your event’s listing in the online calendar. Click on “edit” in the upper right corner. Make your edit. Here’s a walk-through of editing event submissions.

You will be redirected to Willamette’s online event calendar, which automatically feeds into Today@. Here’s a walk-through of how to submit an event to the calendar.

Events will be automatically posted to Today@Willamette the day before and the day of the event. If you'd like your event to show up sooner, please submit a “Save the Date” after you submit your event to the calendar.

While Today@Willamette is delivered via email to the Willamette community, its content, including submitted announcements, is viewable to the public online. This is so submitted announcements and good news are searchable online and can be read by prospective students, parents, faculty peers and community members.

If you have an announcement, such as for an event offering free tickets only to students, be sure your sign-up requires a sign-in. If you have questions or need another alternative, email wu-today@willamette.edu.

Jobs

• Paid student job listings will not be printed in Today@Willamette.
• Use Handshake instead.

Volunteers

• Calls for volunteers may be placed in Today@Willamette.

No. Everyone with a university email address receives the daily newsletter, as it’s the university’s official source of news and information. The university needs a way to make sure messages go to the entire campus community. Today@willamette is that tool.

The newsletter is reserved for information related to students’ studies, research or cocurricular involvement and employees’ professional work at Willamette. Submissions for personal news unrelated to one’s role at the university will not be included.

Are you forwarding your old willamette.edu email address to your personal email? If this is the case, that's why you're receiving Today.

If you would like your Willamette email to be terminated, please submit your request to WITS. Click on “Start a new Service Request.”

If you have difficulty, call the WITS Service Desk at 503-370-6767.

Please fill out this form. Add your willamette.edu email address, confirm you aren’t a robot, and submit.

Search Willamette’s news archives for Today@.

For assistance, contact Willamette University Archives.