Marketing and Communications FAQs.

Contact the SPH Senior Writer and Editor about your manuscripts as early as possible—ideally, as soon as your paper is accepted by a journal. That will allow us time to prepare an embargoed press release, media outreach, and/or social media plan prior to publication.

We make decisions about promotion of preprints and reports on a case-by-case basis.

Let us know about your existing relationships with journalists and/or any media outlets that we should target in our outreach.

We track and publish all media coverage about your studies, including articles that quote faculty/staff and/or mention the research. We also track published op-eds and other original pieces.

MarCom Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu

We reserve press releases for studies published in peer-reviewed journals. We also prioritize creating press releases for studies in which the corresponding author, lead author, and/or senior author are from SPH. There are some occasions in which we write releases about studies that are co-authored by SPH faculty (major findings, joint release with other institutions, etc.), so do still keep us informed about your upcoming publications.

Press releases drive volume and continuous coverage for topics. An example: one press release in May 2022 generated more than 50 distinct news articles across reputable, highly trafficked outlets.

We utilize EurekAlert! for distribution. EurekAlert! is a nonprofit news-release distribution platform operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as a resource for journalists and the public. EurekAlert! hosts news releases produced by universities, journal publishers, medical centers, government agencies, corporations, and other organizations engaged in all disciplines of scientific research. News releases must meet EurekAlert!’s longstanding eligibility guidelines in order to be accepted and hosted on the website.

Press releases are also published as articles on the SPH website as editorial coverage and in our SPH This Week newsletter, which is sent to 40,000 people every Sunday.

MarCom Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu

No. Not every research piece lends itself to a press release. It may be a topic that is too niche or specific for a lay audience, even though it is important for the academic and scientific community. The MarCom team will be direct and honest with you if we do not think a press release is appropriate for your research.

The good news is that there are many ways we can promote your study beyond a press release.

We write SPH news articles about new and ongoing research projects (not just published studies), as well as grants. We promote the articles across our marketing channels (SPH This Week, Alumni & Friends newsletter, social media – Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Post), as well as the ASPPH weekly newsletter (Friday Letter).

Feel free to share any ideas you have for promotion, or other materials we can incorporate into our promotion. We love to brainstorm!

MarCom Contact: Cara Willis, caraw@bu.edu

Our office receives media requests for faculty daily. We provide quick vetting of the outlet and will typically connect the reporter with you directly.

MarCom Contact: Mike Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu

Yes, we are happy to provide a light media training. BU Central PR also offers learning opportunities and webinars with outside experts each semester.

MarCom Contact: Mike Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu

SPH This Week is SPH’s weekly, external email newsletter sent to 40,000 people each Sunday. Its content is externally facing school news for our colleagues at peer institutions, the public health community, alumni, thought leaders, prospective students, staff and faculty. Internal-only messages are delivered via SPH Today and other department newsletters.

We strive for equal representation across our departments and initiatives, as well as being responsive to the current national dialogue. If we do not offer editorial coverage for your news item, we are typically happy to promote it across our social media channels. We can also suggest some alternative marketing opportunities and ideas.

We welcome viewpoint submissions on research, current events, and/or new publications. Please reach out to us if you are interested in publishing a viewpoint on the SPH website.

MarCom Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu

Yes! While we typically focus our invitations on non-SPH guest authors, we do welcome internal submissions. Public Health Post is a daily publication focused on domestic population health. The weekly Friday Roundup email newsletter is sent to over 15,000 people. It is managed by the SPH MARCOM department and on-campus MPH students apply for competitive, year-long, paid writing fellowships. We also invite guest authors interested in adapting their recently published domestic population health research for a general audience. The Executive Editor is Michael Stein and Associate Editor is Jen Beard.

MarCom Contact: Mallory Bersi, mbersi@bu.edu

We track and publish all media coverage about your studies, including articles that quote faculty/staff and/or mention the research. We also track published op-eds and other original pieces.

MarCom Contact: Summer Kaeppel, skaeppel@bu.edu

Yes, we do welcome internal SPH community members to write an original, externally-facing piece for SPH This Week. Please reach out to our team to identify if your topic is a fit for the external, broad audience of SPH This Week.

MarCom Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu

Yes, we are happy to meet with your department or a small group and BU’s Central PR team has a terrific set of resources.

MarCom Contact: Summer Kaeppel, skaeppel@bu.edu

If you feel that you or your family are in imminent physical danger, call 911 or Boston University Police at 617-353-2121.

Please refer to BU PR’s policy and recommendations.

MarCom Contact: Cara Willis, caraw@bu.edu

Yes. Tag us or DM us and we will re-share/post

MarCom Contact: Summer Kaeppel, skaeppel@bu.edu

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Post

We would LOVE to! We are very eager to partner with our faculty, students, and staff on short-form video content. If you have an idea, let us know! We’d love to have a brainstorming session about whether or not that format makes the most sense for your goals.

MarCom Contact: Summer Kaeppel, skaeppel@bu.edu

In the fall of 2022, we announced our decision to disengage from Twitter as a content distribution platform for our institution. We recognize that this is a complex decision facing all organizations and individual users—and as we note, individuals at BUSPH are free to choose whichever platform they prefer, without judgment.

Our account remains intact for our records and for security purposes.

If the environment for substantive discussion and nuance should change in the future, we may revisit this decision.

MarCom Contact: Cara Willis, caraw@bu.edu

The Marketing and Communications office does not manage event production and we are unable to offer technical support. School-wide events such as Public Health Conversations are managed by the Dean’s Office.

ll BU members are able to require registrations for webinars via their regular Zoom accounts. You can schedule your webinar at bostonu.zoom.us by logging in with your Kerberos. In the scheduling options, it gives you the option to require registration and you’ll have a link when that is set up.

If you require more advance support, the Office of Ed Media has a Zoom Webinar account that they accept requests to use. To do this, please email Chris Romagna (cromagna@bu.edu) and his team directly to inquire the IT team’s availability. They are able to facilitate all the preparatory logistics (making the event, creating panelist links, setting registration settings, sending registration counts, etc.). On the days of the event, a member of the IT team can be present and can lead on technical aspects as needed. After the events, the IT team can send over the recordings as well as the final attendee lists.

While we are fortunate to have staff members with photography skills, we do not have a dedicated photographer on staff to meet all requests.

We prioritize school-wide events, or externally facing opportunities.

We are not able to record or broadcast your event. Please reach out to Ed Media for information about recording on the BU Medical Campus.

MarCom Contact: Mike Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu

We are not able to provide support for individual marketing materials, but we do have several templates available for download.

Most likely yes, please view our guidelines.

The Dean’s Office manages Public Health Conversations, please reach out to Meredith Brown to discuss, mbrowna@bu.edu

Each individual department has a designated staff person who can administer events to the SPH calendar. Please check in with your direct team to identify who that is.

MarCom can add new administrators and direct them to their department calendars.

MarCom Contact: Anna McKay, aemckay@bu.edu

While we are fortunate to have staff members with photography skills, we do not have a dedicated photographer on staff. However, we do offer a few opportunities throughout the year for headshots. Please be prepared to follow a tight schedule, and we are not able to accommodate special requests for locations or wardrobe changes.

New staff/faculty:

The Marketing and Communications Office offers the opportunity for new faculty and staff to receive SPH profile headshots by request. Please email Kelly Culnan to schedule a time slot. Following the photo session, you will receive three pictures via email to select one for your website headshot. There is not an opportunity for retakes.

Existing staff/faculty:

Each quarter, we will announce a date for headshots in SPH Today. Given the limited time and resources, we ask that you kindly reserve this opportunity for individuals who have not had a headshot taken in the past two years.

MarCom Contact: Kelly Culnan, ksculnan@bu.edu

Yes! Faculty and staff wishing to update their headshot may submit photos of their own.

• Headshot files (.jpeg or .png) should be at least 1000×1000 pixels and around 1mb or larger for best resolution.
• Avoid selfies or any distracting objects in the frame.
• If possible, take photos using natural light.

Send your headshot for the website to Kelly Culnan, ksculnan@bu.edu

Faculty:

Individual profiles on the SPH website are auto-populated via content from BU Profiles.

For faculty profile CV, articles, etc. content, the faculty member should be able to make most changes in their BU profile and it will push to the SPH site.

For demographic content, BU Works should be updated by the individual professor and the data will be pushed to the SPH site. SPH admin can make the corrections or updates in a database that will push to the SPH site. The current contact is Maria Bakas, mnbakas@bu.edu.

Staff:

For staff demographic content, BU Works should be updated by the individual and the data will be pushed to the SPH site. SPH admin can make the corrections or updates in a database that will push to the SPH site. The current contact is Michael Koehler, mkoehler@bu.edu.

While we do not provide support with website creation, please view our website for guidelines and process within the BU-website ecosystem.

Please do NOT create new pages on any section of the website until conferring with MarCom. We are always working to improve and optimize our website. Additionally, there are other sections of the website that you should link to, as opposed to new content creation. We can help with that, as we are actively trying to reduce and consolidate redundant and outdated pages.

If you need training to update or maintain your department’s webpage, please schedule time with the Website and Design Manager.

MarCom Contact: Anna McKay, aemckay@bu.edu.

Each individual department has a designated staff person who can administer events to the SPH calendar. Please check in with your direct team to identify who that is.

MarCom can add new administrators and direct them to the department calendars.

MarCom Contact: Anna McKay, aemckay@bu.edu

Reach out to Anna McKay, aemckay@bu.edu for help or to flag the issue.

The BU SPH website is part of the bu.edu ecosystem, and as such, large-scale navigation, tools, and page layouts are determined by BU’s IT system. Significant webpage organizational edits and requests typically take a significant amount of time due to the volume received at the University-level. We meet regularly with our counterparts in BU IT and Creative Services and we prioritize website updates that will best improve our user experience. We also regularly monitor KPIs for our website performance to ensure that our website traffic is strong and growing.

BUMC and BU MED handle our research recruitment process as part of IRB approval. Their guidelines and process can be found here. Please use this request form to begin the process. SPH MARCOM’s engagement in this process is to only approve school logo placement and use.

Email rescomm@bu.edu for questions related to research promotional materials.

MarCom Contact: Kelly Culnan, ksculnan@bu.edu

Congratulations! Please tell us so that we can feature on social media and/or in our school news editorial coverage. We love sharing great news about our community!

Contact: Jillian McKoy, jpmckoy@bu.edu and Summer Kaeppel, skaeppel@bu.edu

Great! We are always looking for ways to highlight our people, please share the information with us and we will follow-up.

Contact: Mike Saunders, msaunder@bu.edu