Guidelines for Communicating with Students
Emails
Messages
that pertain to students, faculty, and staff at more than one college across
the district are sent via email by the Communications Department. These will be
coordinated and written with the appropriate department representation. Often, these
messages can be included in the faculty/staff and/or student newsletters.
Please contact communications@ccc.edu if you’d like to learn more about sending an internal
email. Please note that all emails sent to City Colleges students should be sent to their City Colleges student email address.
Timeline: At least 1 week before you would like
your message to be sent.
Event Materials
If
your college or department is hosting an event on campus, the Marketing Department
can provide you with support materials including event programs, directional
signage, flyers, handouts and more. The larger the event/expected attendance,
the more lead time your materials should have. Please submit a marketing
request form at www.ccc.edu/marketingrequest to start your project.
Timeline: 6–8 weeks before your event.
LCD Screens
If
you would like to post your event or notice on the LCD screens at your college,
LCD templates are provided on the branding site at www.ccc.edu/branding. Final LCD screens can be submitted to the Marketing Department
for approval and publishing at cccmarketing@ccc.edu. If you would like a custom LCD screen created, please submit a
marketing request form at www.ccc.edu/marketingrequest.
Timeline: 1 week before you would like
your notice to appear on the LCD screens if you are using a template, 2–3 weeks
before you would like your notice to appear on the LCD screens if you are
having a custom LCD screen created.
Media Opportunities
If
you’ve been asked to appear to speak on behalf of City Colleges on the radio,
TV, social media, web, or elsewhere, the Communications Department can help you
prepare for your appearance with a media training or other support.
Timeline: Please contact communications@ccc.edu as soon as
possible after you have been contacted and ideally before you accept the offer.
Newsletters
During
the term, the faculty/staff newsletter and the student newsletter are sent out
on alternating weeks. If your opportunity, event, or news applies to all
faculty, staff, or students across the district, please send it to communications@ccc.edu so it can be included in the appropriate
district-wide newsletter.
Timeline: 2 weeks before you would like
to see it appear in a newsletter.
Posters, Flyers, Banners, Other
Temporary Materials/Signage
If
your poster or flyer will be used within
the college only, please use the college-specific templates available at www.ccc.edu/branding.
If
your poster will be used externally, please fill out a project request form at www.ccc.edu/marketingrequest.
Timeline: 3–4 weeks before you would
like to display or distribute your piece.
Please note that this timeline is for
pieces that can be printed by CCC’s in-house reprographics centers. Projects
requiring materials such as vinyl, mesh, acrylic or other special production
materials must have extra lead time and will need to be produced by Board-approved
print vendors.
Press Releases
If
there is a newsworthy event that you would like to share with an audience
outside of the City Colleges community, please contact the Communications
Department at communications@ccc.edu. The Communications team can help to determine
whether a press release is appropriate, and can help you to craft and send one
out.
Timeline: At least 3 weeks before your
event.
Robocalls
Robocalls
are typically reserved for registration (Marketing Department) and emergency
notifications (College Office of Safety and Security). It is not generally
recommended to send robocalls to current students, but to utilize other modes
of communication.
Signage (Permanent)
The
Marketing Department can assist in the designing, production, and assembly/application
of permanent signage such as directional signage, wall decals, and exterior
signage. Any signage that is permanent must be produced by the Marketing team in
collaboration with Auxiliary Services at the college. To request a permanent
signage project, please fill out a project request form at www.ccc.edu/marketingrequest.
Timeline: As soon as possible. Permanent
signage projects take considerable time to design, produce, and assemble/apply.
The assembly/application of permanent signage usually takes place between
semesters when students are typically not present.
Signage (Temporary)
See
“Posters, Flyers, Banners, Other Temporary Materials/Signage” section
Social media
If
there is an event or opportunity you would like to share with the CCC community
and beyond, social media is a helpful tool. We encourage you to share your
notices with us, so we can determine which of our social media
platforms would work best for your information.
Please
contact cccmarketing@ccc.edu to get
help determining which platform(s) would be best to deliver your
message/information.
Social
media training is also available.
Timeline: At least 1 week before you
would like to start sharing your message.
Student Portal (my.ccc.edu)
The
student portal is used for individualized and transactional student
information. Please contact communications@ccc.edu to learn more.
Texting
·
Colleges should
use GradesFirst sparingly and on a personalized basis (advisor to advisee,
faculty member to current student). No fort all-student or all-college blasts.
·
Advisors or
faculty members should continue to send texts to students who have indicated
that this is their preferred method of contact.
·
Advisors and
faculty should only send to students they currently advise or teach.
· Departments who would like to send a text message to a
larger population of students should coordinate with the Marketing Department,
who can determine whether or not to move forward with the request.
Video
The
Marketing Department has video production capabilities that can be used for,
but are not limited to, recording events, student or staff interest pieces, and
promotional videos for programs/initiatives. The CCC video production team can
help you outline, plan, capture and produce your video, as well as help you
determine what you want to achieve with it and where the final video should be
published. Please submit a request form at www.ccc.edu/videorequest to start the video process.
Website
CCC
staff is able to update their department’s webpage at any time, as long as the
head of the department approves the changes/updates. If you are a staff member
and do not know how to edit the webpage or need web credentials, please contact
the IT Helpdesk.
In
compliance with the CCC Marketing Policy, any website of or pertaining to City
Colleges of Chicago, including without limitation, any research program,
academic program, social program, or community program, must be approved by the
Marketing Department prior to establishment and publication pursuant to the
terms of this policy. All new websites must be hosted on City Colleges of
Chicago’s main servers and developed using the Marketing Department’s content
management system as of the effective date of this policy. Marketing has the
authority under this policy to require that any website not in compliance with
this policy be taken down.
