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University President Podcasts :: Hollins University

3 June 2006 18 views 4 Comments

Interesting development. I haven’t seen this before. A university president taking to iTunes for message delivery.

Hollins University, a small private liberal arts university in Virginia, offers “women’s undergraduate and coed graduate programs with a liberal arts focus.” Hollins has “819 undergraduate women and 238 coed graduate students. From 46 states and 9 countries.”

In their first program, President Nancy Gray chats about the school.

Hollins University president Nancy Gray talks about happenings at Hollins and answers listeners’ questions. This bimonthly podcast is hosted by public relations director Jeff Hodges.

…focusing on exceptional alumni, new campus facilities and programs, and faculty activities, this podcast serves a useful purpose…

It is billed as a bimonthly podcast. I think once every two months is too little for them to build an audience, but we’ll see. Since I don ‘t know about their staff and resources, it may not be possible for them to do more. Now, a school like Auburn could easily fill one each week (if not each day) with interviews from administrators, faculty and students. A lot has been written lately about professors using podcasts for their lectures. I hope university PR offices start to join in, as well.

I like this idea. Just imagine how many news organizations would love to have this to check out each week, or so. A 9:52 production, the program is short enough to get listeners and long enough to have some purpose.

They are calling it the “Ask the President Podcast.” Many universities have had radio actualities online, in the past. The practice seems to have diminished as they go after more and more television and print placecments. Just my anecdotal observation, really. This is an interesting way to get audio online and easily available to media and stakeholders.

Now, a bold step would be to have some unscripted conversations between the president, students and faculty. Wonder if they’ll go out on the limb with their’s?

This podcast is clearly scripted. If it isn’t, then I’d be amazed. Listen and I think you’ll understand. But, the process will – I hope – develop a more conversational tone along the way. Hey, it is new. Let’s cut them some slack.

Still, this is a good example of how podcasting’s growth has begun to catch on in education. Check it out. It was a good podcast. The podcast is listed in iTunes under public relations. They also have a Web page devoted to the podcast’s feed and it features another podcast on creative writing, too. No blog, yet. But, perhaps that’s coming in the future. I’d love to see university presedents blogging … with comments on. Don’t know if any of them will ever take that chance, though. We’ll see.

4 Comments »

  • Karine Joly CANADA Windows XP Mozilla Firefox 1.0.7 said:

    Thanks for the info about Hollins University! I thought I would point you to a few resources as a follow-up to the conclusion of this post.

    ASU President, Michael Crow, has been blogging and podcasting since a few months now with comments on – but moderated.

    I interviewed Michael Crow back in December to prepare my University Business column: “The Brand (Brave?) New World of Online Public Relations.” One of my questions touched the topic of comments.

    Tim Goral, University Business Editor, has since published a list of presidents/higher ed executives bloggers.

    # 4 June 2006 at 7:38 am
  • Robert UNITED STATES Windows XP Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.4 (author) said:

    Thanks, Karine. That’s a great list of resources. Dummy me should have gone to the source on this one. I believe you are becoming, for Higher Education, what Constantin Bastureau is for PR.

    I forgot about ASU’s president, but I didn’t know about all the others. Interesting that they (ASU) are not monitoring blogs “in any systematic way.” They should be. All universities should be, IMO.

    So, Hollins University brings the list to 13 university presidents blogging and/or podcasting. That’s pretty impressive.

    Thanks again, Karine. I’ll go and read and listen to all of those now, too.

    # 4 June 2006 at 8:16 am
  • Kristi UNITED STATES Windows XP Mozilla Firefox 1.0 said:

    After reading the article posted on Marcom by Lee Hopkins on university professors podcasting their lectures and after reading your post about Hollins University I decided I should really check out this new podcasting craz. I haven’t really used podcasts until recently but I think I am beginning to catch the fever. I found that there are some really interesting university podcasts. I thought that the podcasts posted on the Mansfield University website are quit interesting. I started listening to a few and they had some good advice for students. This is what the podcast intro looks like:
    “The Mansfield University PodCast looks at college life through the eyes of freshmen who share their thoughts, experiences and advice. Admissions Director Brian Barden shares tips on how to find the college right for you and Financial Aid Director Chris Vaughn makes the complex world of financial aid understandable and sometimes even fun! The Mansfield University PodCast is for high school seniors, juniors and parents.”
    I also found the University of Virginia’s to be interesting, I think current Auburn students as well as future students and alums could really benefit from something like this. Thanks for making me aware of all the possibilities.

    # 12 June 2006 at 5:12 pm
  • Robert UNITED STATES Windows XP Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.4 (author) said:

    Thanks, Kristi and you are welcome.

    If you didn’t know it, Auburn University is starting to blog. The Office of Admissions has launched Tiger Tales and it was spurred on by one of our students. Katie Smith was working in the Admissions Office and started talking with the director. She took her experience from our practices and influenced her boss which led to the blog.

    Cool, huh?

    Now, that site is a test. But, I’m told they will be blogging (and perhaps podcasting) very soon. Maybe you can go over there and volunteer, or get a job? Worth a try. Then, you can be doing it and influencing other students and parents with the same kind of information you found at those other universities.

    Thanks.

    # 12 June 2006 at 5:49 pm