Award winning design team

Campbell, award in background, holds his
 submission to the Paragon Awards.

MCC’s marketing team designer Matt Campbell was awarded the Bronze Paragon Award for his design of the MCC-Maple Woods Monarchs program. He was acknowledged during the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations convention. The Paragon Awards recognize outstanding achievement in communications at community and technical colleges.

Campbell began his career at MCC in June of last year and has already made a great impact; winning a Paragon Award on his first submission is no small feat. The competition level is high. “It’s the first thing I was able to submit,” said Campbell. “I wasn’t here in time to submit for the regionals.”

Spencer Chapin

And speaking of regionals, MCC took home six regional awards, including gold, by designer Spencer Chapin.

“It’s nice to be honored for the work we’re doing, especially on a large scale,” said Chapin. “Just to get recognized, it’s cool.” Chapin has been with MCC for three and a half years.

Other regional awards presented:

• 2 Poster single category – Gold – Spencer Chapin
• Poster series category – Silver – Spencer Chapin
• 2 PR campaign-recruitment category – Bronze - Monica Stevens and Spencer Chapin
• Logo design - Bronze

Left to right: Portal campaign, Recruitment, MLK Day, CTE campaign

Congratulations to all!

Reaching out to bring alumni in

Since 1990, more than 320,000 people have attended MCC. That’s a lot of alumni. That’s a lot of success stories.

To reconnect with these former students, MCC marketing has launched a campaign called 320 thousand that encourages people to get back in touch with MCC by visiting http://www.320thousand.com/. With a goal of developing a comprehensive database of former students in order to re-engage them with MCC, the campaign encourages people who visit the site to register online as alumni. Registrants will then receive invitations to attend MCC events, participate in volunteer activities, support the MCC Foundation and network with other alumni, among other opportunities.

The call is not limited to people who earned a degree or certificate from MCC, though, says MCC marketing coordinator Monica Stevens, who is managing the recruitment campaign. Nor is it limited to people who attended MCC within the last 20 years.

“We want to hear from anyone and everyone who has attended MCC – from the person who took a single class here in 1948 to the person who has earned several associate’s degrees while attending multiple MCC campuses,” said Stevens. “So many of our former students have great stories to tell and we want to hear those stories.”

If you are a former MCC student, visit the 320 thousand web site to see how you can become part of this growing network of proud alumni. And if you have family or friends who have attended MCC, send them a link to this article so they, too, can join the movement!

MCC finds efficiency and cost savings in e-communication

Increased use of e-mail as a means of communicating with prospective students has led to both a higher response rate and lower cost over the last two years, according to a recent analysis by Vice Chancellor Tuesday Stanley.

Since 2008, MCC has been using a combination of e-mail and mailed collateral pieces to communicate with potential students. Previously, we only communicated by mail. The response rate for e-mail has proven to be at least as good as, and in some cases better than, mail. In addition, the district has saved over $34,000 in postage and printing.

Stanley, who initiated the change-over to using more electronic communication, credits staff across the district for the success and cost savings.

"The admissions coordinators and marketing coordinators worked hard to build the new plan a few years ago and have been working diligently since then to implement that plan," said Stanley. "This has been a great team effort."

MCC can look forward to even greater efficiencies in the coming year with the advent of the fulfillment center and prospect communications, which will further streamline production of mailed collateral pieces. Watch for more information soon about how the fulfillment center can help you work smarter, including document personalization for each recipient, expediting the production of some print jobs and much more!

MCC marketing efforts win Medallion Awards!!

MCC was a winner at the National Council of Marketing & Public Relations District 5 conference, held in Kansas City the last week of September. More than 40 community college marketing and public relations pros from several midwestern states enjoyed the event, which kicked off with the Medallion awards dinner immediately after the Plaza Art Fair ended. MCC projects receiving awards were:

• Gold–Web Services Promo (the big colorful standups at each campus)
• Silver–Maple Woods Junior Postcard Series
• Silver–Health Sciences Institute photo
• Bronze–Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Event Poster
• Bronze–Career & Technical Education Campaign
• Bronze–NCMPR Event Logo
• Bronze–Line Tech Pole Field photo

The conference was coordinated by Lelain Lorenzen & Heather Kelly-Perez, with assistance from Dan Ascheman. Mike Ekey was a session presenter. Also attending: Monica Stevens and Alex Grigsby.