William Freivogel 
SIU Foundation 
WSIU will soon benefit from a digital overhaul of its TV production facilities, thanks to a $749,000 Public Television Digital Transition Grant from the Rural Utilities Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Throughout rural Southern Illinois, our viewers depend on WSIU for programs that address issues of local importance,” says Petrowich. “This long-overdue modernization of our television production facilities will enable us to continue to produce locally-relevant content that meets the needs of the communities we serve.”New tracking software allows faculty to check in with newly accepted potential students by telephone in hopes of increasing enrollment, Gary Kolb says.
Kolb, dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, said a faculty calling campaign to boost low enrollment isn’t a new technique, but the new software helps faculty get students’ contact information, see where they are in the admissions process and call students while they are choosing which school to attend.
“That’s when you really want to be able to talk to them, to answer any questions they might have and try to convince them that this is the place where they will get a good education,” he said. Clare Mitchell, assistant dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, said during each campaign, faculty meet once and are given pizza, a list of students to call and a summary of what questions students may ask about topics such as housing, the curriculum or about the campus in general. If faculty can’t reach students, they leave a message on an answering machine and follow up with an e-mail inviting students to e-mail questions, Mitchell said.
She said similar campaigns have been used by other departments and colleges across campus such as the School of Cinema and Photography and the College of Business.
The difference between past MCMA campaigns and campaigns conducted in fall 2010 and the beginning of the spring semester was an intent to preemptively attract undecided students, Mitchell said. The campaign was more organized with participation from the departments of Radio-Television, Journalism and Cinema and Photography, Mitchell said.
“It has really made a difference,” she said. “Sometimes the students will say ‘Oh, I’m glad you called, because I was wondering about this.’ We’ve had a lot of students that were on the fence and have decided to come here partly as a result of receiving a personal call from someone.”
A good indicator of the success of the campaign is that many students who received a call through the campaign have put down deposits in university housing, an early sign a student will come to the university, Mitchell said.
Enrollment won’t show the results of the campaign until more time has passed, but statistically, calling campaigns do increase enrollment, Kolb said.
Jack Young, academic adviser for the School of Journalism and one of the faculty who participated in the campaign, said when he called students he received positive responses. When students get a call from a faculty member, dean or administrator of a college, they are often impressed and think more highly of SIUC, which may result in them coming to the university, Young said.
He said another benefit to calling students is that students often visit and get enrolled in classes sooner. The department of cinema and photography started doing campaigns a semester before the School of Journalism, and the department saw a significant increase in new students, Young said. He said a lot of the new students had been called by faculty.
“I think as an initiative, the college will probably see some good results out of it,” Young said. “At this point, it’s a nice thing to do because you also get to know the people who are going to be coming, but also you want to try new things, and this seems to be one that works.”
Vicki Kreher, an assistant professor in journalism and one of the faculty who participated in the campaign, said calling campaigns makes the university stand apart from the rest in a highly competitive market. Universities with higher enrollment have used and still use campaigns as a technique to attract students, she said.
Calling students is important to not only answer their questions, but to also give a personal touch to recruitment that shows students how much faculty care about them, Kreher said.
“I think that’s one of the things that we in this department do well; we have a personal connection with our students, and if we can communicate that we reach out and try to start that connection before students are actually enrolled, that extends and helps part of what we already do,” she said.
Published in the Daily Egyptian. Julie Swenson can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 536-3311 ext. 254.
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Carbondale will honor acclaimed progressive broadcast journalist and investigative reporter Amy Goodman with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Discourse during the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts’ commencement ceremony in May.
