Our Campus Profiles highlight stories of specific campuses with strong campus adoption, and each of the steps they took to get there.
University of Arkansas - Fort Smith made a splash in their campus adoption of Engage by taking a dedicated focus to campus partners. Within their first three years of implementing Engage, this campus has already brought on many of their campus partners and ensured that every first year student learns about Engage. Some of their strategies include:
Meet Students Where They Are
Student Activities made sure to bring Engage (or as they affectionately refer to it, Numalink) directly to their students rather than waiting for students to find Engage. This includes:
- Presenting about Engage at Orientation
- Training Academic Advising in how to support students in using Engage to get involved on campus during 1:1 meetings
- Presenting Engage to first-year students (again!) during first year experience classes - students are often overloaded with information at Orientation, so repeated exposure is important!
- Making time for students to update their organization page as part of organization leader training
Make Sure Everybody Knows!
Every campus partner should know the name of your Engage platform and have at least a rough idea of what it does! Student Activities at University of Arkansas - Fort Smith prioritized meetings with the following campus partners:
- Resident Advisors
- Campus Ambassadors
- Admissions
- Campus Library
- Financial Aid
- Athletics
- World Languages Department
By meeting individually with these campus partners, many chose to build department pages on Engage - this enriches the student's experience of the site, making it all the more valuable to them, even if those departments (such as Financial Aid) are not hosting events. It also helps during this stage to build your system to reflect your real campus organization to ease understanding of how the system operates. For example, this campus also build organization pages specific for the different housing options on campus. The housing office typically streamlines its messaging by Resident Advisor, and by paralleling Engage to this structure, they can translate the same method to this new environment.
Diversify Your Marketing Techniques
When it comes to print and digital media, it's important to have some variety! This campus was very creative with their print media. Some of our favorite strategies they employed include:
- Yard Signs
- Magnets in Housing facilities
- Numalink styled tablecloths
University of Arkansas - Fort Smith also had a comprehensive approach to digital marketing. Information about Engage is included in a campus listserv including many important reminders. Notice below that their message is also accompanied by a quick instructional video:
Additionally, the campus features Engage within their digital advising guide:
