Research to serve the world
The Office of the Vice President for Research at U-M collaborates with internal and external partners to catalyze, support, and safeguard research and scholarship across the University. Visit Michigan Research for a deep dive into the state of the research enterprise at U-M. Learn what inspires the Michigan scientists and scholars who are spurring new technologies, advancing health care, and driving the economy. Meanwhile, enjoy these recent research stories from Michigan News.
James Wright - 1969, 1970 History
Ok you guys, don’t you see where you’re failing? I really don’t need my alum magazine nor Michigan Today to tell me how fantastic the University is and how critical its role in current events. I already know, though not the details for sure. I enjoy esoteric stuff—like using physics to enable the translation of lost texts from Asia Minor trapped in tar. (It was in an alum magazine I think last fall—at 77 my memory needs help for details). Unbelievable that, but you’re preaching to the choir. The University needs to find a way to tell these stories to the public at the state and national level. Outside the university communities, nobody knows about the work being done by our Universities. This needs to be the first order of business. Maybe one of the Big Ten U’s is doing the work—that would make a good conference. On an entirely different note, sending the Symphony Band on tour around the State is wonderful. Can you imagine local communities experiencing the Marching Band? (Yes, I know, there are time, costs, and the will of the kids to participate, but they’re vested in the University too, and bring an enormous amount of pride in the Band to their service. (Need I say my wife (Diana 70, and Nursing Doc from Rush) get to Bandorama every year?). Yes, this is a bit rambling, but the central point remains, tell the Universities stories to the public.
Reply
Deborah Holdship
Dear James:
As editor of Michigan Today, I take issue with your comment: “Don’t you see where you’re failing? I really don’t need my alum magazine nor Michigan Today to tell me how fantastic the University is and how critical its role in current events.” Failing? My literal job description requires me to “tell you how fantastic the University is.” Your job is to be an ambassador for your alma mater and share the love.
As for your directive that we tell people outside the university “how critical our role is in current events,” you should be aware that Michigan News does this every day. In 2024, the team produced 621 news releases. Our Michigan News website news.umich.edu generated 3.6m page views and 51.4m search impressions. All of the content stored there has been distributed externally; much of it has produced media coverage.
Reddit (where we have been since 2018) has been an effective tool in directly reaching audiences with science news: Posts averaged 30,000 to 100,000+ views, with one story shared on r/Science and r/Space sparking over 80 comments, actively answered by the Michigan researcher.
Several Michigan faculty are recognizable experts across global media as they regularly appear in the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and more: Justin Wolfers & Betsey Stevenson re: the economy; Barb McQuade re: the law; and Javed Ali re: terrorism, to name just three. A google search likely will deliver a plethora of clips and university experts, many of which appeared there as a direct result of university communicators’ outreach.
In addition, the Michigan Stories campaign features the impact U-M has on communities across the state, telling these stories directly to stakeholders via social media and websites. Our hyper-local strategy on in-state media has been extremely successful. The Michigan Minds monthly podcast, with a focus on timely news and issues, is shared on multiple social media sites. A monthly Detroit newsletter also shares news of U-M’s involvement with and in the city; it has a subscription rate of nearly 10,000 stakeholders and a 43% open rate.
We have an active presence across social media platforms and are launching on Substack any day now. Stay tuned.
That’s just a tiny bit of the work Michigan News does. The team also collaborates with communicators across campus to amplify their messaging as well.
And yes, it’s very exciting that the Michigan Marching Band is touring the state. We sent a news release about that last week and Michigan Public’s Stateside conducted an interview with U-M’s Jason Fettig and Mark Clague. Local media coverage included Midland Daily News and WJRT-TV in Flint. You likely will be seeing more coverage as the tour continues.
Reply