Jenna Spinelle is the communications specialist for the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State. She describes herself as a team of one, where she handles digital content and media outreach. She is also host of the Institute’s Democracy Works podcast which is produced in partnership with WPSU Penn State, Pennsylvania’s NPR station. Lougan and Jenna have a great chat about working her work hosting Democracy Works, podcasting and listening to audio books. Also, apologies for Lougan’s audio quality. We’ve had some issues with his microphone and are working to fix it. 

Links to cool stuff: 

• Jenna on LinkedIn
• Jenna on Twitter
• Listen to Democracy Works
• Jenna’s Website

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be university president? This week on the show, Lougan talks with Dr. Martha Saunders, President of the University of West Florida. In her more than three decades in higher education, Dr. Saunders has served in multiple academic and leadership roles and has led UWF a to new heights. Lougan chats with her about how she became a university president, her strategic vision and how the resources in west Florida helped drive the creation of new and innovative programs at UWF. 

Links to cool stuff: 

• Dr. Saunders on Twitter
• Dr. Saunders on LinkedIn
• UWF Innovation Institute
• UWF Center for Cyber Security
• UWF Sea3D Lab

Eric Stoller is the vice president of digital strategy at GeckoEngage. You may know him from his articles on Inside Higher Ed, his speaking engagements and his consulting work around digital engagement. He’s always loved doing marketing and public relations, but never wanted to work for an agency. Eric’s experiences in student development services at University of Illinois Chicago and enrollment management at Oregon State University really cemented interest in the intersection of technology and student success. He’s had an incredible and unique journey through the world of higher education. 

Links to cool stuff

• Eric on Twitter
• Eric on LinkedIn
• GeckoEngage

What’s better than actually going to the HighEdWeb Conference? Recording an episode with your friends that actually went! At least that’s what Lougan is telling himself this week as he welcomes Jackie and Jon-Stephen back to the show along with new guest Alaina Wiens. We chat about what it’s like running social media for the conference, and the various presentations they gave. We also talk about the “golden nuggets” they are taking back home this year. 

Links to cool stuff: 

• Jackie: Twitter | Linkedin
• Jon-Stephen: Twitter | Linkedin
• Alaina: Twitter | Linkedin
• 2019 HighEdWeb Conference Website
• HighEdWeb’s Recorded Live Streams
• HighEdWeb Association Website

For our second international episode, we sat down with Melissa Mae Cheater, the digital content manager at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. Melissa is also the founder of #PSEWEB (Post Secondary Education Web), a Canadian offshoot of the Higher Education Web Professionals Association here in the US. During the show, we chat about the differences between student life in the US and Canada. Melissa also shares her thoughts on how departments across campus can better work with their communications teams to celebrate success. 

Links to cool stuff: 

• Melissa on Twitter
• Melissa on LinkedIn
• Melissa’s website
• #PSEWEB
• Link Journal article on Melissa’s #heweb18 presentation

James Stafford is the director of marketing and public relations at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas. He never planned on going into higher ed, but stumbled into it by being a data nerd. James shares his love for how excel sheets can solve a lot of problems. James current tasks vary from changing the virtual tour to the military appreciation football game. The group discusses the challenges of being in university photos and hiding from 360 degree camera. James and Lougan discuss cameras and the potential of iPhone video. And Lougan pulls out his 11 year old OG iPhone and yes, it still works. 

Links to cool stuff: 

• James on LinkedIn
• James on Twitter
• A photo from Lougan’s original iPhone

This week on the show, Lougan and Jackie are joined by Higher Ed Social alums Liz Gross from Campus Sonar, Jon-Stephen Stansel from University of Central Arkansas and Jeff Stevens from University of Florida Health. We also welcomed Andrew Cassel from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. We sat down at Sacrament Brewing in Sacramento, California to have a great discussion about the 2018 Higher Education Web Professionals Conference. There were a lot of great takeaways, so take a listen!

Links to cool stuff

• Liz on Twitter (Episode 93)
• Jon-Stephen on Twitter (Episode 26, Episode 67)
• Jeff on Twitter (Episode 19, #heweb15 Episode)
• Andrew on Twitter
• 2018 HighEdWeb Conference
• Higher Education Web Professionals Association (become a member, it’s free!)

Allison Matherly is the coordinator of digital engagement at Texas Tech and teaches public relations as an adjunct professor in the College of Media and Communication. Matherly’s class primarily focuses on the strategy behind social media posts. She arranges for a non-profit to work with the students for an assignment. She believes emergency communications is about collaboration between parties, but the more you have prepared for an emergency the more you can adjust.

Links to cool stuff: 

• Allison on LinkedIn
• Allison on Twitter

Aerial Ellis is a public relations consultant and professor at Lipscomb University in the Department of Communication and Journalism. Aerial is heavily involved with the Public Relations Society of America on a national and regional level, where she serves on the national diversity inclusion committee and the strategic planning committee and helps the student chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America Chapter at Lipscomb. Aerial followed her entrepreneurial spirit by starting a business at 22 after graduation. In her book, Original Millennial, she mentions about starting her own nail business as a 14-year-old. She believes that everyone should pace themselves while achieving their dreams.

Links to cool stuff

• Aerial on LinkedIn
• Aerial on Twitter
• Aerial on Instagram
• Aerial’s Website
• The Original Millennial

This episode of Higher Ed Social was brought to you by Top Hat! Learn how their suite of easy-to-use apps can help you engage your class, adopt incredible next generation textbooks, or to run tests within a secure, digital environment. Visit tophat.com/higheredsocial to learn more. 

Andrea Gils is the marketing and communications manager at University of Kentucky’s International Center. Originally from Uruguay, her experience as an international student at Southeast Missouri State University is one reason she loves her job. Andrea works for different clients at the International Center similar to an agency setting. While on the show, Andrea discusses UK’s involvement in the “You’re Welcome Here” campaign for international students, and the group discusses how study abroad programs can help one better understand other cultures.

Links to cool stuff: 

• Andrea on LinkedIn
• Andrea on Twitter
• Andrea’s Website

This episode of Higher Ed Social is sponsored by Happy Scribe, the ultimate, automatic, transcription tool. If you are currently working on making video and audio content more accessible or if you are pursuing qualitative research then Happy Scribe can help you. Get started for free at happyscribe.co.