Last spring the Communications Office rolled out a series of internal communications tools for the campus community. Some of these tools, like the weekly announcements email that we delivered on Wednesday mornings, were intended as temporary measures while a new announcements system was created. Today we are writing to introduce an online campus-information ecosystem—Trinity Today. 

 Trinity Today comprises several components: 

• A redesigned website information-hub that contains the announcements, events calendars, and other campus communications resources 
• A tool for faculty and staff to publish announcements (using WordPress within the Trinity Today site)
• An events calendar (already launched, with versions for the public and the campus) 
• A daily campuswide email containing announcements, all the day’s events (drawn from what’s published on the calendar), and a small selection of upcoming events (looking seven days out).

Here are some more details about the tools.

Announcements

With this new system, faculty and staff can post their own announcements. This method replaces the process of emailing announcements to the Communications Office for publication. Announcements are published on our new announcements site and daily in the Trinity Today email.

How to Post Announcements

Any staff member or member of the faculty can post their own announcements. Our office will work with folks across campus to provide in-person training sessions. In the meantime, as folks get up-to-speed, we’ll continue to support you and ensure your announcements get published. If you’re ready to get started, please email us and we’ll get you up and running.

Students who need to post announcements should work with their faculty or staff member liaison, or be in touch with the Communications Office.

What’s considered an announcement?

Announcements are defined as information for broad distribution that is not an event. If your information can be published on a calendar, it cannot be duplicated as an announcement. During the temporary period without a calendar and announcements tools, we relaxed the distinction between announcements and events. However, with all of these tools up and running, and especially because the daily email contains both announcements and events, announcements must be limited to non-event information.

Examples of announcements: 

• Deadlines 
• Calls for entries or nominations 
• Parking advisories 
• Course openings and registrar information
• Open enrollment information 
• Research studies

Examples of items that are not announcements: 

• Lectures, discussions, workshops, info sessions, and meetings 
• Performances, exhibits, films, or concerts 
• Meals, receptions, or social gatherings 
• Building or center hours (unless it’s to communicate a change)
• Anything that can be published on the events calendar should not be duplicated as an announcement

New Trinity Today Daily Email 

For many of you, this has been a long time coming. In our campus communications survey, you were clear that you wanted the daily Trinity Today emails to return. Starting the second week of March, each day during the academic year (and periodically during the summer) you will receive an automated email that includes:  

• All the campus events happening that day 
• A small selection of upcoming events  (looking seven days out)
• All announcements 

The email will be delivered every morning–before you start your day–and the content comes directly from items that are published on the events calendar and the announcements site.    

The Trinity Today Website 

The Trinity Today website is the hub of all your internal communications resources. Here you can find the campus’s announcements, events, college news, and other campus information resources. All of the parts of our internal communications ecosystem roll up into this site. Think of this website as your North Star for campus information. Of course we will continue to improve this site based on your feedback and as new resources become available. If you have and idea or would like to share your feedback, we’d love to hear from you.

A Note About Global Email Lists 

While we worked to rebuild Trinity Today, the Communications Office temporarily relaxed access and use of the global email lists. This was done to accommodate the missing announcements tools and campus events calendar. Now that these tools are in place, use of the global email lists will return to a limited number of senders for non-promotional purposes (college business).  

Thank You to Our Campus Partners

Redeveloping Trinity Today has been a community effort, and we’re grateful for the dedication of our partners who have helped us shape a suite of tools and resources to support an improved internal communications environment. The Communications Advisory Group led the process to determine the campus’s communications preferences, and the group’s members have provided insight and guidance throughout the process. Additionally, Information Services has worked incredibly hard to develop and implement the announcements tools, the Trinity Today website, and the Trinity Today email.

Our work here isn’t done, and we will continue to ensure that our campus communications tools are meeting the needs of our community. As always, your feedback is the most important thing we can receive, and we always want to hear what you think. Please be in touch with your thoughts and feedback at any time.

 

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay