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The Reporter goes live in new online format

With the Monday, Jan. 26, issue of The Reporter, what was a printed campuswide newsletter has transformed into The Reporter online news site for the faculty and staff of Western Carolina University. Published by the Office of News Services, which is part of the public relations arm of the Division of Advancement and External Affairs, the new online format was introduced as a cost- and paper-saving measure.

“The decision to stop printing the newsletter was not easy, but we felt it was the responsible thing to do in these tough economic times,” said Clifton Metcalf, vice chancellor for advancement and external affairs.

“Through The Reporter’s online news site, we will continue to share university news, features and achievements that are relevant and of interest to faculty and staff,” said Metcalf. “With more frequent publication and fewer space constraints, we think there will be benefits to publishing The Reporter online that were not possible in the printed format, thereby broadening communications in ways that will be helpful to all of us.”

• Articles and information about grants and achievements will be published weekly instead of every two weeks. A campuswide e-mail will announce when new stories have been added to the site.
• Although employees will not receive a printed copy of The Reporter, they will be able to print individual articles from The Reporter news site.
• The information previously included in a section called “Newsfile” in the print edition of The Reporter is now part of a section titled “Achievements.” (The link is at middle right of each page on The Reporter news site.) The “Achievements” section includes information about the latest grants won by faculty and staff, and information about WCU employees’ recent professional achievements, such as winning an award or making an invited academic presentation. The WCU grants office supplies information about grants. Faculty and staff can submit information about professional achievements to reporter@email.wcu.edu .
• A section titled “Headlines | WCU News Services” will list the latest headlines from news stories published at the university. The Reporter e-mail, which will replace a campuswide e-mail from the public relations office called “Spotlight on Western,” also will include direct links to each news story published at the university.
• A section titled “Updates | WCU Athletics” will list headlines from the news feed at http://catamountsports.com.
• Instead of publishing a condensed, one-page calendar of upcoming events, The Reporter will list featured events and link to the complete events calendar (calendar.wcu.edu) maintained by the Office of Public Relations. To submit an event to be publicized on http://calendar.wcu.edu, go to http://www.wcu.edu/434.asp#Publicize_Your_Event . Submissions should be sent two or more weeks in advance of possible publication.
• The Reporter also will link to announcements personally posted by faculty and staff member at WCU to the announcements page (announcements.wcu.edu). Categories range from “Academic Announcements” to “Swap and Shop.”  To post an announcement to http://announcements.wcu.edu, a faculty and staff online message board linked to The Reporter, log into the announcements Web site from any computer linked to the WCU campus network using your faculty or staff username (before your username, type wcu\) and password.

“We expect the online publication to evolve and improve over time,” Metcalf said. “I encourage you to help us by letting us know what you like, what you don’t and your suggestions for how we could better relay the kind of information that helps us all work together to fulfill Western Carolina’s promise – to offer opportunities for those who aspire to make a difference in their world.”

To suggest an idea to The Reporter, e-mail the editor at reporter@email.wcu.edu or call (828) 227-7327.

By Teresa Killian

© 2009 Western Carolina University.