Student Communications

Any member of the University community may submit a request for a student communication via the St. John's Now request form. Requests must be received 10 business days in advance of the target distribution date.

To best meet your communication goals while recognizing the feedback we receive from students, we avoid the “cafeteria” approach. Instead, we choose to understand your needs to help you meet your goals with the tools and techniques we have developed and continue to improve.

Currently we communicate with students via these platforms:

• E-mail
• Event listing on stjohns.edu/events*
• Social media
• University app

For assistance with the electronic campus signs (e-boards), please contact Marketing and Communications.

* We are only able to add events for the Division of Student Affairs and student groups and organizations. Other members of the University community may contact their Marketing and Communications liaisons for assistance adding their events to the calendar.

Approval and Scheduling

Every request is reviewed to ensure the communication is appropriate, adheres to these guidelines, and is complete and meets quality standards. Requests must be received 10 business days in advance of the target distribution date.

Guidelines

For a communication to be distributed to a broad selection of students, it must:

• Be critical and germane to the University’s mission and values;
• Be essential to a University office with official approval and endorsement of that office;
• Support an issue of student health or safety;
• Provide information for a mandatory student responsibility or event; or
• Promote a significant opportunity, promotion, or special event.

Faculty: Per the Office of the Provost, we are not able to assist in promoting specific classes or sections. We can provide a school/college dean with a student e-mail list by segment (e.g., all Queens campus undergraduate English majors) to facilitate your office communicating directly with those students. However, with approval of an academic dean we can facilitate communication with students enrolled in the respective school/college.

Best Practices

• Be brief.
• Clearly state your goal, i.e., what you want students to do.
• Make your message actionable; give the reader something to act on or click.
• Data shows effective subject lines are very short. Aim for two to three words.
• Avoid using formatting for emphasis (e.g., bold, color, large fonts); instead, rewrite.
• If an event requires registration or RSVP, use a form.
• Try to use the second-person grammatical voice, e.g., “you should” and not “students should”.
• Specify a contact point by phone and e-mail.

We oversee mass e-mail sent to students to ensure that communications are consistent, accurate, and coordinated. All unsolicited mass e-mail to students must be approved in advance by the director of student communications.

Typically, we only send e-mail to students for significant announcements regarding registration, important deadlines, and other need-to-know information. Such e-mail should be compelling, brief, and to the point.

Routine information about campus events, activities, programs, etc., may be promoted via other communication channels Our office is responsible for maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of e-mail as a platform of communication with students.

Surveys and Research

If your request includes a survey as part of research, Institutional Research approval is required. For information on this process, IR Tools and Resources.

If a random sample of students is required as part of the project, a list may be provided to us by Institutional Research if requested.

Social media is the most effective means of communicating with a large, nontargeted student population; posts are shared via our official Division of Student Affairs social media accounts to reach an active and engaged audience on their preferred platforms.