Most members of the UCCS community read Communique regularly and think it important. But readers don’t know how to contribute to the publication designed to keep faculty and staff informed of what’s happening on campus.
These findings, and many more, were provided by campus community members in a recent survey implemented by the Office of Institutional Research and designed by Philip Denman, student assistant, Office of University Advancement. Denman completed the survey of the campus about Communique as part of a course requirement in the School of Public Affairs.
Of those who responded to the survey, 87 percent said they read Communique regularly with 88 percent believing the publication contains useful information and 74 percent considering it among their top sources of information.
On the flipside, 66 percent of respondents said they did not know how to submit items to be included in Communique and 45 percent wanted a summary of items sent to faculty and staff lists before 10 a.m., not the noon deadline we strive for.
The Communique team (Phil Denman, Ron Fitz, Jeff Foster, Tom Hutton) take both the positive comments and the suggestions for improvement to heart and thank the campus community for sharing them with us. This summer, we hope to use the survey results to influence changes in Communique. For the fall semester, there will be changes that reflect what readers (and non-readers) told us they wanted to see.
A few of the comments that faculty and staff provided follow:
- “Nothing unpleasant is reported in Communique. If it’s truly to be a news source, then you should publish the bad with the good.”
- “Better short summaries for articles on the website, visuals for every story, improved email formatting, easier ways to contribute ideas, organization so I know what is most important.”
- “It’s fine as it is.”
If you didn’t participate in the survey and want to share your thoughts, we still welcome them. Send an email to [email protected].
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