Media Relations

The Office of University Communications works with the media to suggest story ideas, distribute information on campus events, share news about student and faculty achievements, and respond to questions. We routinely answer calls from local, regional, national and international members of the media—seeking expert comment on breaking news or information about something affecting the Mount. If reporters contact students, faculty or staff members directly, please refrain from comment and refer them to our office. If you do speak with a reporter directly, please inform our office regarding who the reporter was and the context of the conversation. This allows us to have all the information that may be needed for a follow-up. Reporters who call are probably on deadline, so we need to respond promptly. If we don’t have the requested information, we should advise them when we can get it or direct them to another source.

We also are responsible for news releases:

Hometowns
The Office of Marketing and Communications is responsible for hundreds of news releases sent each year to hometown newspapers to report the accomplishments of students, faculty and staff. The sources of this news vary. The registrar’s office provides the dean’s list; organizations tell us about new officers and members; individuals drop us a note or e-mail about papers presented or honors accorded. Information about students, faculty and staff is also used in Mount Magazine.

Features
News features are written on faculty and student research, campus initiatives, trends in higher education, unusual campus happenings and interesting Mounties. These features are sent to local and hometown newspapers, magazines and other publications. Occasionally, items of interest are included in Mount Magazine.

Announcements
Releases on appointments, resignations, major grants, honors, published faculty and other important news are sent to a variety of media. Just call, write or e-mail us with your news.

Responses to the Media
The Office of University Communications routinely answers calls from local, regional, national and international members of the media—seeking expert comment on breaking news or information about something affecting the Mount. If reporters contact students, faculty or staff members directly, please refrain from comment and refer them to our office. If you do speak with a reporter directly, please inform our office regarding who the reporter was and the context of the conversation. This allows us to have all the information that may be needed for a follow-up. Reporters who call are probably on deadline, so we need to respond promptly. If we don’t have the requested information, we should advise them when we can get it or direct them to another source.

OpEds
Let us know if you have an idea or an issue for an editorial page opinion piece. We’ll be happy to work with you to try and get it placed.

Clipping Service
Copies of articles about the Mount or Mounties are clipped and saved for future reference and are made available to the featured individual.

Community News
The communications office is happy to post your internal announcements on the campus homepage and we encourage you to let us know what’s going on in your department by e-mailing communications@msmary.edu. We use this forum to keep the Mount community up-to-date with news about colleagues and special programs. In addition, in some cases, we might supply the newsworthy information you give us to outside sources (newspapers, etc.) for further promotion. Please keep in mind that in times of inclement weather or campus crisis, the campus announcements section of the homepage will be reserved for priority announcements until further notice. Also, we reserve the right to edit, deny or redirect requests for posting of community news.