About the series
The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA) partnered with the NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) to present workshops especially tailored for Public Information officers. The purpose of these workshops was to explore strategies to more effectively communicate university research and education success to local constituents and more broadly to national audiences.
All public organizations share communications challenges. Identifying the right media to effectively communicate news to various audiences is one. The explosive growth of new information technologies enabled by the Internet has provided many new mechanisms for getting the word out. Other challenges are exacerbated by significant distances that separate some universities from larger population and media centers. Communications specialists located in EPSCoR institutions often face these and other challenges.
These workshops provided a forum to discuss how we currently communicate university-based information to public audiences and to explore strategies for improving dissemination of our research and education successes. Participants from each EPSCoR state/jurisdiction participated as a “team” with the objective to develop closer relationships and discuss strategies for publicizing local/regional success stories most effectively.
Three workshops were held at the Westin Arlington Gateway Hotel, located one block from NSF Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The workshops were held on the following dates:
June 15 and 16, 2006 (see agenda and workshop presentations)
June 29 and 30, 2006 (see agenda and workshop presentations)
July 20 and 21, 2006 (see agenda and workshop presentations)
