Undergrad
in Action By Ian Ragsdale
A
s a student worker for Housing and Residence Life during the summer break, Luis Fernandez ‘15 helped the marketing team research how other schools market and communicate to their student residents. This initiative plays into division-wide goals of self-assessment and bringing innovation and clarity to branding, marketing, and discovering new technologies and processes that connect with students. For Luis, a first-generation college student who just finished his first year at Rutgers, the experience was far more than a few paychecks over the summer. It was also a deep immersion into the world of higher education and prepared him for his new role as Advocacy Director for the Residence Hall Association (RHA). “At the end of this experience, I’ll have something I can present to Housing and Residence Life, but also something that I can take back to RHA to improve the organization’s communications,” Luis says. Luis’ primary task was immense: research every Association of American Universities (AAU) institution to find out how other housing operations or residence life groups use technology to market and communicate to students. Much of the research was conducted online—he visited countless websites, social media profiles, and YouTube channels—but Luis also corresponded directly with residence life professionals at other AAU schools. These e-mail surveys and phone interviews gave Luis a deeper understanding of how other departments approach communications. The results of his research had immediate impact. A multimedia
campaign surrounding new student move in was completely rethought after Luis surveyed the successes and failures of other schools’ move in videos. Luis’ input also supported the marketing team’s creation of an exhaustive FAQ document for the department’s website and forthcoming mobile site. “We had completed an AAU residence life communications survey previously, but having a student conduct the research and focus explicitly on new technologies allowed us to get a lot of new value,” says Ian Ragsdale, Student Communications Coordinator for Housing and Residence Life. “His research allowed us to create a benchmarking document and generated a long idea list of things that Luis, as a student, thinks would be good to implement at Rutgers.” The immersive nature of the project has given Luis a rich perspective and allowed him to make a number of specific recommendations based on his assessment. These include: making the presence of professional and graduate student Residence Life staff better known and understood; more multimedia to relieve first year student anxiety; more material on sustainability in the residence halls; and contests that can support communications while also engaging students. Ultimately, Luis hopes that his work for Housing and Residence Life and his newfound knowledge can help bridge the gap between students and professionals in Housing and Residence Life. “I want to help students get more involved in life on campus,” he says. “Learning how to communicate better will allow me to do that.” The department’s marketing team is
Summer 2012
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