College Relations: Changing technology, consistent mission

More than a century, ago the local newspaper published a regular column called “Normal Notes,” providing reports on classroom activities, student honors, dormitory residents’ outings, the comings and goings of faculty and administrators, and the details of life at Chadron Normal.

The author of those columns wasn’t given a byline, but whoever supplied information to the paper could probably be considered the first to have worked in what today is known as CSC’s department of College Relations.

Multiple changes of job and organizational titles over the years make it difficult to trace the history of College Relations, but longtime CSC employee Con Marshall said in his days as a student, the duties of providing information and publicity were handled by a man named Warren Wittekind, who had the title of Director of Field Relations.

“He was terrific,” said Marshall, who praised Wittekind’s skills at yearbook photography and keeping sports statistics, two of the main tasks of the position.

Wittekind’s six-year tenure at the college ended in 1961 and his duties apparently passed to Dick Tibbits , a man whom Marshall said had multiple other jobs at the college and used a mimeograph machine to copy the stories he submitted by mail to area newspapers.

The typewriter, telephone and U.S. Mail service were still the primary tools for disseminating information in 1969 when Marshall began work as the CSC information director and sports information director. Working initially with one secretary in a shared office space, Marshall essentially was the entire CSC information service for the next 30 years. He attended most campus events, took photos and developed them in the college darkroom, wrote stories and kept area newspapers well supplied with Chadron State news, photos and press releases by stuffing them in envelopes and putting them in the mail.

Besides covering college events, Marshall wrote stories and took pictures of individual students when they received honors, and sent the articles to the local paper in the student’s hometown. About five years into the job, his manual typewriter was replaced with an electric one and much later he welcomed the college’s first fax machine because it allowed him to send out sports stories to multiple papers at once.

Marshall said he wasn’t pleased when a computer replaced the typewriter, but by that time technology was accelerating the pace of changes.

In 2000, Justin Haag, a 1996 CSC journalism graduate who now works as public information officer for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, joined Marshall as a Communications Coordinator. Haag said his first duties at CSC included writing press releases, taking photos, and designing brochures and other publications for the college’s print shop. He also designed sports media guides and, while working with Damon Mittleider, the first fulltime webmaster at CSC, helped develop the college’s news and athletic webpages.

“Before CSC’s hiring of a full time webmaster, its site was extremely basic, as most were at the time,” Haag said. “It was fun to watch it grow.”

Haag said widespread public use of the internet was a relatively new thing when he started.

“We had to do a lot of learning on the fly,” he said.

Another facet of today’s College Relations department also saw rapid change beginning in the last years of the 20th century, according to Publications Specialist Dewayne Gimeson, who started work as print shop supervisor in 1989 in an office known as the Media Center.

Gimeson said for several years he handled all parts of the printing process, from taking orders to running the press. The Media Center later became the Instructional Resource Center and when a video production position was created, Gimeson was approved to take it on along with graphic production.

Presently, Bruce Huckfeldt supervises the Print Shop and Craig Conway works as a publications technician.

Eventually the decision was made to consolidate publications, news and communications in one department of College Relations, said Gimeson, who now concentrates on designing print material for advertising, recruiting and signage.

“Information technology moves at a fast pace and College Relations will adapt,” Gimeson said. “I advocate that the message remains the same; the delivery of the message changes.”

In 2007, when Loree MacNeill retired as Director of College Relations, and Marshall began a phased retirement, Haag said his job expanded to include promotion and buying advertising, as well as news and information services.

The hiring of current College Relations Director Alex Helmbrecht as the Sports Information Director in 2007 also helped CSC handle the growing technological demands of providing sports news, Haag said.

Daniel Binkard joined the College Relations staff in 2008 to work on graphic design for print publications and the web, but said he soon became involved in video production as well as promotional photography. He now produces marketing videos for Chadron State, and is in charge of CSC Live, the college service that sends live streams of select athletic and campus events out on the internet.

“The communications landscape has seen a lot of change,” Binkard said. “It will be an interesting challenge to keep up with the change and use it to CSC’s best advantage.”

With the importance of social media, College Relations has taken on new means of disseminating information about CSC, according to Marketing Coordinator Tena Cook. In the last three years the CSC Twitter account has grown from 300 followers to more than 1,500 and the number of people ‘liking’ the college Facebook page has almost tripled, Cook said. Those platforms, and others such as LinkedIn are used to reach a diverse audience by posting numerous college-related items gleaned from multiple sources, she said.

Changes in technology have also made it possible for College Relations to provide news to media outlets faster, and in greater depth, than ever before. A story sent by email to a student’s hometown newspaper, for example, will have a link to a gallery of related photos that can be downloaded as needed. Stories often are linked to related videos that enhance the written text, and the college website has archives that reporters can use for background information.

“The department exists to tell the story of Chadron State College,” Helmbrecht said. “Even though communication methods and distribution devices have changed through the years, College Relations still manages to inform the public and campus community in consistent and effective ways.”

The methods College Relations uses to fulfill its mission of providing a clear and consistent image to a varied audience are continuing to evolve as technology develops.

Because Chadron is in a sparsely populated area it can be difficult to communicate effectively, but technology continues to expand the ways College Relations can meet its primary goal of telling the story of Chadron State College.

“The possibilities have grown more than I would have ever dreamed when I was beginning this career,” Haag said. “In the three short years since I left, I’ve noticed many advancements by the department in getting the word out.”