News and information about the University of Arkansas creates awareness of key initiatives and updates, while creating better understanding of and support for the university’s mission. That is, unless the news fails to reach intended audiences.  

In order to increase the effectiveness of sharing news about the U of A, the university is in the process of enhancing its online news hub, Arkansas News, while working to customize the content and distribution schedule of its regular news email. 

“As the university has grown, the amount of news being distributed has increased to the point of being overwhelming at times, especially during peak periods of the academic semesters, causing many to skim for relevant content or completely ignore our daily news email, with only a small fraction of the campus community clicking to read even one story on any given day,” said Mark Rushing, associate vice chancellor for university relations. “With that in mind, our team spent the last year analyzing user data and feedback, and consulting with peers across the SEC, while focusing on increasing the reach and impact of our university news.”  

Enhancing Arkansas News Online 

More than 1.5 million visitors utilize Arkansas News online (news.uark.edu) annually, making it the primary source for university news and information for internal and external audiences. The site serves as a centralized hub for all university news including college, school and unit-level stories. 

The site’s navigation and search functionality for specific topics and related articles will be upgraded in the coming months, making it easier for all those visitors to find what they’re looking for.  

In addition, new stories submitted from across campus will be published on the site as soon as they are ready. This will allow college, school and other units to share their stories at desired times throughout the day and stories published to the Arkansas News site are also fed to websites across campus, included in newsletters and magazines, and are easily shared via social media and email.  

Changes to Arkansas News Email

In addition to all the latest university news being available at Arkansas News online, faculty, staff and students will continue to receive regular news briefs via email with some noticeable changes: 

• News You Can Use – The emails will include some, but not all, of the stories submitted to Arkansas News online. Stories for the regular email brief will be selected based on potential usefulness, interest and impact to a large portion of either employees and/or students. Stories meant for more targeted audiences can be communicated more effectively to specific subgroups via college, school, department and unit-level channels or direct group emails, social media, etc.

• Increased Customization – Faculty and staff will receive employee-focused news while students will receive news more relevant to them. If a story is deemed equally important to both groups, it will be included in both emails.

• Weekly Frequency – Each email (one for employees and one for students) will consist of a weekly summary compiled from stories submitted to Arkansas News online for internal audiences.  

Additional customization is also being considered for the future, including the potential of providing college, school, department or unit-level news specific to the individual receiving the weekly Arkansas News Brief email.  

Introducing ‘Arkansas Impact’

In addition to the weekly Arkansas News Brief email, customized for employees and students, the entire campus community and other key stakeholders will soon begin receiving Arkansas Impact, a newsletter with stories that highlight the university’s public land-grant mission of providing value and positive impact to Arkansas and beyond. 

Campus Calendar

The Campus Calendar (calendars.uark.edu) is the university’s go-to resource for event information. All events happening at the university should be submitted to the Campus Calendar.  

Events with broad appeal that will likely interest large portions of the campus community, may also be submitted to Arkansas News online for consideration.  

U of A Communications Resources  

• The university’s Brand Center provides comprehensive brand and communications guidance, supporting purposeful messaging and an authentic, consistent and unified U of A brand.  

• Unifying Themes help convey the foundational elements of the U of A brand and should be used as a guide when communicating about the university. 

• Policies and Procedures guide effective, efficient communications while helping reinforce and protect the University of Arkansas brand.

• The Office of University Relations collaborates with partners across campus to inform and engage while creating better understanding and support for the university’s mission and positive impact on the state and world.

• Submission Guidelines for Arkansas News online.