Communication FAQ
What should I do if I’m contacted by a member of the news media?
First, reach out to ODU News and Media Relations for guidance at universityrelations@odu.edu.
If the topic is time-sensitive and urgent, these contacts may be useful:
● Assistant Vice President for Public Relations Amber Kennedy, alkenned@odu.edu, 757-683-3278
● Director of News and Media Relations Kenya Godette, kgodette@odu.edu
Finally, for awareness, please notify Sam McDonald, the college's strategic communications and outreach coordinator, at spmcdona@odu.edu, 757-683-5717, about potential news media coverage.
How do I submit a news tip to the University Communications team?
You may submit a news tip through this online form.
I’m a professor and I’m planning to submit an opinion column to a newspaper or news website on a topic related to my field of expertise. Do I need to notify universityrelations@odu.edu?
Media/University Relations does not require prior approval of opinion writing submitted to the news media but is available to assist with drafting and submission. News and Media Relations often recommends that writers include an end note saying, "This column expresses my thoughts and opinions only, not those of Old Dominion University's administration, staff, or faculty."
How do I submit my announcement to the College of Arts and Letters Weekly News email?
The College of Arts and Letters Weekly News email is sent most Monday mornings throughout the semester to the college's faculty, staff, and graduate students as well as to key university communicators. It is distributed by the dean's office under the supervision of Sam McDonald, Arts and Letter's strategic communications and outreach coordinator. The newsletter is intended to boost awareness of events taking place within the college.
To make their announcements eligible for the newsletter, event organizers submit details through an online submission form.
Here are steps and guidelines:
1) To submit, fill out a submission form. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required. Flyers or supplementary graphics may be uploaded for possible use within the newsletter, but this is not a requirement.
2) The newsletter is sent to faculty, staff, graduate students, and student workers affiliated with the College of Arts and Letters.
3) Events should be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on the Wednesday of the week before an event. If submitted after that time, the event may not be included in the newsletter. Submitting an event many weeks ahead is encouraged. However, remember that for each edition of the newsletter, we prioritize events that are timely.
4) Graphics such as posters and flyers submitted to the newsletter are not automatically added to the lobby digital displays in the Batten Arts and Letters Building. See an item below for details on that process. If providing a complementary image or graphic related to your submitted event, bear in mind that the newsletter does not support PDFs, video or audio files, PowerPoint slides or other non-graphical file types. JPGs, TIFFs, and PNGs are best.
5) For additional inquiries or to address technical issues, please message artsandlettersnews@odu.edu.
How do I get my announcement into the University’s Daily Announcements email?
Faculty and staff submit announcements that are relevant to the University community through this link. Faculty and staff announcements are posted automatically. Student announcements must be approved before displaying. Posts can be active for up to three days.
How do I get my flyer onto the digital displays in the Batten Arts and Letters Building lobby?
The images displayed on the digital screens seen near both BAL entrances are managed by Sam McDonald, Arts and Letters' strategic communications and outreach coordinator.
These guidelines apply:
1) The dean's office exercises editorial judgment in what gets added to the screens. When you submit a graphic, you are making a request. It's useful to briefly explain the relevance and audience of your topic or event.
2) Digital displays work best for long- to medium-term event promotion. If your event is days — not weeks — away, a digital display is not an efficient means of spreading your message.
3) Images should be JPGs files with the dimensions 1920 x 1080.
4) Images should be no larger than 500 KB in file size.
5) PowerPoint is a good tool for resizing your image. For tips on doing that, please see this tutorial.
6) RedKetchup is a free online tool that can also be used to resize your image. To learn how to use it, please see this tutorial.
How do I get my flyer onto the digital displays in the Goode Theatre, Perry Library, the Webb Center and elsewhere on campus?
Reach out to these contacts about adding content to digital displays:
● Perry Library, Jennifer Hoyt, jhoyt@odu.edu
● Webb Center, Franklin Whitaker, fwhitake@odu.edu
● Gordon Art Galleries, Stirling Goulart, sgoulart@odu.edu
● Goode Theatre, Josh Knibb, jknibb@odu.edu
● Barry Art Museum, Suzy Peterson, sspeters@odu.edu
Important note: The people across the University who manage digital displays exercise editorial judgment. When you send them a graphic, you are making a request. It's best to phrase your message that way and provide a rationale about the relevance and audience of your topic or event.
1) Images should be JPGs files with the dimensions 1920 x 1080.
2) Images should be no larger than 500 KB in file size.
3) PowerPoint is a good tool for resizing your image. For tips on doing that, please see this tutorial.
4) RedKetchup is a free online tool that can also be used to resize your image. To learn how to use it, please see this tutorial.
Where do I turn to get a poster — or a similar communications product — made?
The University encourages faculty and staff to make use of the Canva design website and provides access to an ODU Canva account for employees with an ODU email address. Canva was created to help those with little or no design experience create attractive posters, flyers, social media posts, invitations and newsletters.
For approval to use the ODU Canva account, fill out this form. Be sure to use your ODU email address.
Where can I find University-endorsed templates for social media posts, PowerPoint presentations, and newsletters?
The ODU Communications Toolkit and Brand Book includes useful templates, logos and detailed guidance intended to promote use of University-approved design and style.
There, you'll find templates for:
1) Social media posts
2) Flyers
3) Postcards
4) Digital banners
5) Emails
6) Posters
7) Advertisements
8) Newsletters
9) PowerPoint presentations
Should I send my email message to the entire college?
Generally speaking, no. Outlook email distribution list AL College of Arts and Letters contains more than 700 addresses and should be used sparingly to respect your colleagues' time and inbox space. Also, faculty, staff and students should refrain from responding to a message from that distribution list with a "Reply all." This practice can lead to unfortunate results.
The AL College of Arts and Letters distribution list should not be used for:
1) Congratulatory messages not coming from the dean
2) Notices of excess office furniture
3) Notices about registration for a particular class
Here are points to consider when deciding if your message is a good fit for this distribution list:
1) Is my message something likely to be of interest to most Arts and Letters faculty, staff, and graduate students?
2) Would a more targeted distribution list be a better path for my message?
3) Have I notified the dean's office that I'm planning to send something out to the entire college? Notifying the dean's office before sending to AL College of Arts and Letters is both a courtesy and a best practice.
4) If I am doing a "reply all" to an earlier message to AL College of Arts and Letters, would my reply be useful or appropriate for most Arts and Letters faculty, staff, and graduate students?
5) If you need to send a message to the mailing list, consider using the address as a blind carbon copy or BCC, so that if someone does Reply All it doesn't go to the entire list.
How do I request a University photographer or videographer to document my event?
● Request his help by going to this link and clicking "Photo Requests."
● Please understand that there is no guarantee that photographic service will be available, especially if the request is last minute.
● Requests should be made no less than 30 days prior to the event to be covered.
Where can I find photos of commencement and other major events taken by University Marketing and Branding photographer Chuck Thomas?
For major events, the photo team posts images to the "ODU Photos" Flickr site. The site is open to the public, but it may require first-time viewers to register.
Where can I find photos taken at College of Arts and Letters events?
Photos from events are posted on the college's Flickr site. The site is open to the public, but it may require first-time viewers to register.
How do I get my event on the College of Arts and Letters online calendar?
Send an email to WSP@odu.edu with the details of your event and be sure to specify the calendar in which you want it to appear. In the email, I recommend identifying the calendar by URL. College of Arts and Letters calendar: https://ww1.odu.edu/al/calendar
How do I get my event on the University’s main online calendar?
Send an email to WSP@odu.edu with the details of your event and be sure to specify the calendar in which you want it to appear. In the email, I recommend identifying the calendar by URL. University calendar: https://www.odu.edu/events/calendar
What are the College of Arts and Letters’ primary social media accounts and who manages them?
The Arts and Letters dean's office communicates through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. The accounts are managed by Sam McDonald, Arts and Letters' strategic communications and outreach coordinator. Many other social accounts are managed by departments and programs within the college.
How do I make an update to an Arts and Letters ODU.edu/al website?
Content on the main ODU.edu/al website is managed by Sam McDonald. Departments and institutes within Arts and Letters manage the content of their sections of the site. Changes to those can make independently by sending an email to WSP@odu.edu. Updates may take up to three business days to be implemented.
Contact Sam if you'd like to discuss possible changes to a section of the website. Please note that the University is currently changing to a new web Content Management System. That change is expected to impact the Arts and Letters site sometime in 2024.
I’m writing an article that will appear on the ODU website. Where can I find guidance on what to capitalize, how to write job titles, and things like that?
The University's Editorial Style Guide details the ODU-endorsed approach to capitalization, academic titles, degrees, and other topics for writing related to the school.
How do I request promotion or ticketing of my event by Arts@ODU?
Email arts@odu.edu with your event title, date, time, location, descriptive blurb, and image or graphic if available. Please indicate whether ticketing is desired.
How can I get advising and event-related information for students posted on the Arts and Letters Advising Canvas page?
Please send information to Tanisha Bradley, director of Arts and Letters advising, at tbradley@odu.edu.
