Communications

The CoE Communications Team consists of Manager of Communications and Digital Strategy Claire Tremont, Webmaster/Programmer Analyst Orlando Echevarria, and Media Producer Christopher LaRosa, and is supported and guided by Assistant Dean Kylene Perras and Administrative Assistant Noreen Wall. The Communications Team is available to help with any marketing and communications needs for CoE faculty and staff. We oversee website design, development, and maintenance; digital and print promotional fliers and brochures; social media accounts; digital display announcements; apparel and swag purchasing; promotion of CoE events; a professional portrait studio; news stories; media relations; and more.

The Communications Team can be reached at coe.communications@uconn.edu. Need communications or marketing help but not sure where to get started? Submit a work request and we can strategize with you on the best promotional path moving forward.

Voice

• Professional: Reflecting the expertise and innovation of our community. Follow AP Style and UConn's editorial guidelines.
• Informative: Providing valuable and relevant information.
• Inspirational: Highlighting achievements and motivating our audience.

Tone 

• Friendly, approachable, and encouraging. Use a positive and engaging tone that reflects our commitment to excellence and innovation and focuses on successes and advancements of the community.

The University is launching a new brand campaign in Fall 2024. Review the materials.

• University Communications: UConn Communications oversees all marketing and communications efforts at the institutional level. They provide services involving editorial content, strategic marketing, social media, multimedia, internal communications, and public records. They manage UConn Today and the UConn magazine.
• Media Relations: As a public institution, it is extremely important for researchers, administrators, and the University to respond to media queries. Please inform Claire Tremont if a member of the media approaches you for an interview or quote. Engineering and University Communications can also assist in sending press releases and story pitches forward to the media.
• Interdisciplinary Communications: One of UConn's many strengths is its collaborative ecosystem across fields and disciplines. Please let us know if your programs or initiatives have interdisciplinary connections, as we will want to make sure to coordinate efforts with other school/college communications teams.
• University ITS: The University's centralized Information Technology team provides services that support research, teaching, learning, and outreach. UConn Aurora websites and UConn email addresses are just two of the many services they provide.

• Logo Usage: Always use the official UConn Engineering wordmark, also called a logo. Maintain adequate spacing around the wordmark to ensure visibility (Rule of thumb – use the size of the "U" in UConn on all sides of wordmark). Ensure the wordmark is clear and not distorted. Do not alter the colors or design of the wordmark. Do not place the wordmark over a busy background image, instead, use a blue, white or grey background.
• Colors: Use the official UConn colors: Navy Blue (#000e2f), White (#FFFFFF), Grey (#7C878E), and accent colors as outlined in the UConn brand guidelines. You can also use UConn College of Engineering Orange (#ee6921).

• Typography: The typeface for the primary wordmark of the College of Engineering logo is Gotham. Use the official UConn fonts (Gotham, Arial, Times New Roman) for consistency.  Ensure text is legible and professional.
• Imagery: Use high-quality images that reflect the diversity and dynamism of UConn Engineering. Avoid using stock images that do not represent our community accurately.

Photography: When selecting photography, consider utilizing high-definition shots that showcase our proud history and strength as a top public research university. University photographs can be downloaded from Media Share.  When capturing photography on a cell phone, consider both vertical and horizontal perspectives. Vertical photos are better for social media use, while horizontal photos are better for print materials. You may also find and download more College of Engineering specific images by visiting our Flickr page.

Stock Photos: There are many free stock photography websites where you can search by topic area. Options include Pexels, Unsplash, Pixabay, Freepik, and StockSnap.

Canva: Please refer to UConn’s Brand website for guidelines on using Canva. Canva itself offers some best practices for graphic design which may help when creating content. You may submit any Canva-made designs, promotional materials, etc. for review to Chris LaRosa or Claire Tremont. When in doubt, less is more. Simple, clean graphics can tell a huge story!

Faculty and Staff Portraits: Portraits are offered to faculty and staff at no charge. Schedule a time with Chris LaRosa in his William Hall Building studio.

Types of Content

• News Updates: Share the latest news and developments within the College of Engineering.
• Research Highlights: Share groundbreaking research and innovations.
• Achievements: Highlight student, faculty, and alumni achievements.
• Event Promotions: Announce and promote upcoming events.
• Community Engagement: Share stories and initiatives that engage with the community.

General Guidelines

• Set-up and Administration: Securely share log-in credentials with Claire Tremont to ensure log-ins are not lost as staff transition. Two to three people should have access to the account at all times.
• Frequency: Post regularly to maintain engagement. Aim for three to five posts per week. These can include stories, reels, text-based posts, and standard social media posts (image + captions).
• Hashtags: Use relevant hashtags such as #UConnEngineering, #Huskies, #CoE #UConn, and event-specific tags. Create unique hashtags for specific campaigns or events.
• Tagging and Collaborating: Tag relevant departments, organizations, and individuals when appropriate to increase reach and engagement.
• Accessibility: Ensure all content is accessible. Use alt text for images/graphics and provide captions for videos. Provide captions for all videos to ensure they are accessible. Use plain language and clear formatting for readability.

Online Engagement

• Community Interaction: Respond to comments and messages promptly and courteously. Engage with followers by liking, sharing, and commenting on their posts where appropriate. 
• User-Generated Content: Encourage and share content created by students, alumni, and faculty. Always give credit to the original creator. 
• As a public university, we do not have authority to delete or hide comments on our posts.  

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. Contact Social Media Coordinator Katherine Flood to discuss social media strategy.

Site Content

All websites residing on the uconn.edu domain are required to abide by university policies. These policies require that all websites do the following:

• maintain up-to-date material
• following the branding standards¹
• proper usage of the university, college, program or department wordmarks and logos
• contact page with ways to contact the site owner

Requesting and Building a New Website

When building a new website, we encourage faculty or staff to have ready the following:

• a site map (tabs or menus)
• three to four websites designs that are liked or elements from those websites that are liked
• images that represent what the website is about
• possible content ready
• site description or keywords

By having these items ready, this will help speed up the website development process.

Website Limitations

While all websites on the ITS WordPress (Aurora) can be dynamic and provide a unique experience, there are limitations to the ITS WordPress. These limitation are:

• database interactions
• server side scripting
• third-party integration

If you wish to use any of the above mentioned tools, you may request a virtual machine to host your specialized pages or site. However, if your specialized page is to be made for public consumption, it must abide by federal, state laws and university policies and guidelines. By hosting your website on the uconn.edu domain, you agree to these university policies and guidelines.

Quick Response (QR) Code

QR Codes are nifty two dimensional matrix barcode that is a machine-readable optical image that contains information specific to an item, for example, text, a website address, e-mail, telephone or contact information. We use these QR codes to point users to websites, web pages or direct users to pieces of information that may be too long to post.

Need to generate a QR Code? Visit https://secure.engr.uconn.edu/qrcode/ to generate and download your own QR Code.

Note: to access this resource, you will need your UConn Net ID

Editing Content

All websites under the ITS WordPress, also known as Aurora, use the Advanced Editor Tools, (formerly known as TinyMCE Advanced), SiteOrigin Builder plugin and widgets. The Advanced Editor Tool and SiteOrigin Builder provides a mechanism for users to build custom pages without having any knowledge of HTML or CSS.

When editing content, we encourage faculty or staff to use the default visual editing tools or builder and discourage use of the text editor tool. The reason why we discourage using the text editor tool is that it requires that the user understands HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is very easy for users who are not knowledgeable of HTML or CSS to make errors. We encourage users who want to do special effects or custom layouts to contact us.

Site Design

Once a design has been approved, we recommend that users do not deviate from that design, especially on the main homepage. All approved designs have gone through rigorous stages of development, edits, and additions. If you believe your current site design has reached end-of-life, than we encourage you to contact us so that we may assist you in redesigning and implementing a new design.

Accessibility

All websites that are federally or state funded are required to meet certain requirements for:

• accessibility users
• visually or hearing impaired
• screen readers

All content on the uconn.edu domain must pass and abide by accessibility guidelines², this includes HTML, PDFs, MS Word or Excel documents. Any deviation from these guidelines may put the university at risk of litigation for failure to follow federal or state laws³, regulations, or policies. It is the responsibility of the site owner to be aware of these guidelines for achieving universal accessibility.

Last Updated October 33, 2024

¹ The university branding standards govern how each website on the uconn.edu domain function. These guidelines are required for all websites that reside on the uconn.edu domain. All websites are required to have the standard header and footer. All content in between the header and footer is subject to branding and accessibility standards.

² The accessibility guidelines govern how content on the uconn.edu domain is made available for screen reader users with vision impairment or hearing issues.

³ https://www.access.state.ct.us/policies/accesspolicy40.html

• UConn Today: The CoE Communications Team uses UConn Today as its online platform for posting news and editorial content. Contact Claire Tremont to pitch your news to the Engineering page, or the UConn Today homepage. Your unit can also feature the UConn Today Engineering news feed on your website.
• UConn Events: The CoE Communications Team uses UConn Events to promote upcoming events, seminars, and meetings. Submit your event to the College of Engineering calendar. Your unit can also feature the UConn Events Engineering calendar feed on your website.
• Annual Report: Review the latest Annual Report assembled by the CoE Communications Team.
• Writing Your Own News: Please follow AP Style and UConn's editorial guidelines. Please review our Acronym Guide, too.

• Metrics: Track key performance indicators such as clicks, opens, engagement rate, reach, follower growth, and content performance. Contact Orlando Echevarria for information on the Google Analytics accounts associated with each CoE website.

• Evaluation: Regularly review analytics to understand what types of content perform best and adjust strategies accordingly.

Engineering Weekly Digest: Please send submissions for the Engineering Weekly Digest to Noreen Wall. Please specify whether you would like your notice posted in the faculty/staff digest or the student digest. The digests are distributed on Thursdays.

Email Signatures: Please visit brand.uconn.edu for information on standardized email signatures.

E-newsletters: The UConn Foundation sends out a monthly emailed newsletter to all engineering alumni. The Engineering Communications Team sends out a similar e-newsletter to industry contacts, supporters, friends, and emeritus faculty. Sign up to receive this e-newsletter. The Engineering Communications Team can also send e-newsletters to your (non-alumni) contacts with your supplied content.

Advertising is a tried-and-true method to place your message in front of an audience that might be unfamiliar with your unit or accompanying brand. With digital advertising especially, it is easier than ever to track engagement and response rate. Depending on your budget, there are several avenues to consider pursuing.

Makiaris Media: University Communications encourages the use of media buying agency Makiaris Media. MM can negotiate for better pricing for traditional and modern advertising options. They have a $5,000 minimum. All advertising buys, specifically the ad creative, are reviewed by University Communications for brand compliance. To reduce slowdowns during the PO process, please inform Claire Tremont of advertising purchases ahead of time.