Office of the Provost

Faculty and Unclassified Staff Handbook
Chapter 8 -- Public Affairs

University Relations

The Office of University Relations serves the University as the central focal point for public relations activities, including the dissemination of news releases, news photography, graphics, publications, and adjunct services. Areas within the general scope of the Office of University Relations (OUR) include the News Bureau, Graphics, Publications, and the University Web Site.

All news concerning the University, faculty, students, and staff should be released through the News Bureau of the OUR. The professional staff will assist in preparing news releases, suggest the use of photography, and disseminate the news release to both print and electronic media as quickly and as widely as possible. There is no charge for this service.

Requests for “news-related” photography should be made through the OUR. In some cases, OUR staff members will shoot the photographs with their in-house equipment. There is no charge for photography if it is news related. All other photography requests should be made through the Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Technologies (CTELT), located on the bottom floor of Forsyth Library.

Requests for multi-media productions or filming should be made through CTELT. The OUR and CTELT work together on many projects. There will be a charge from CTELT for those productions.

University Relations is the home for most campus publications. All department brochures are to be guided through this office; in some cases partial funding is available. Publications which emanate regularly from the graphics design area of the OUR include the Alumni Association's FHSU Magazine, TODAY, For Parents Only, Student Viewbook, Retired Faculty/Staff Newsletter, Speakers Bureau, departmental brochures, and others. Professional staff will provide copyrighting, designing, and proofreading services free of charge. A fee will be charged to have materials printed.

The student or campus newspaper, The University Leader, is not a part of the OUR. Material for the twice-weekly newspaper should be sent through campus mail to Editor, The University Leader.

The OUR serves as the Webmaster for the University, with technical assistance from the Computing and Telecommunications Center. (See policies and procedures about the use of the Internet in Chapter 1.)

The OUR also provides adjunct services for faculty and organizations. Name tags and welcome packets (in reasonable numbers) may be obtained free from the OUR. Informational literature for the welcome packets is available at no cost. Call the OUR several days in advance of the program and let the professional staff help prepare packets. File folders for welcome packets must be ordered from the campus warehouse. There will be a charge for those packets. Additional services provided by the OUR include advertising and staff vacancy notices; press conferences; public relations, publicity, and special event planning advice, etc.

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