News Office Renamed to Reflect Efforts to Raise Visibility

News Office Renamed to Reflect Efforts to Raise Visibility

RICE NEWS STAFF
Oct. 1, 1998

A marked increase in daily contact with news media outlets during the past four
years has prompted the university’s News Office to change its name to better reflect
its role in helping to raise Rice’s visibility.

On Sept. 28, 1998, the Office of Media Relations and Information assumed responsibility
for coordinating contact with all media outlets, as well as publishing Rice News,
the weekly faculty, administration and staff newspaper.

The Media Relations Office is part of the University Advancement Division. The
office provides communications support, internal and external, to the entire campus
community.

"During the past four years, our media relations efforts and internal communications
projects have made major contributions to raising Rice’s visibility locally, nationally
and internationally," said Kathryn Costello, former vice president for University
Advancement who was instrumental in developing this resource for Rice during her
tenure on campus. Costello becomes senior vice president for external affairs
at the University of Georgia on Oct. 1.

"Our relationships with many media outlets, including C-SPAN, PBS, National
Public Radio, the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle, are the strongest
they’ve been in years. Proof of that is in the coverage Rice has received just
in the past year on a wide variety of issues and events," Costello added.
"This is the type of media relations activity we need to raise Rice’s visibility
and to help successfully implement our strategic plan."

Since 1994, the Media Relations Office has aggressively reached out to journalists
through news releases and media advisories, the publication and distribution of
the Media Resource Guide, the creation and continued upgrading of a World Wide
Web site, use of RealAudio/RealVideo to bring university programs to reporters’
desktops (with strong support from the university’s Information Technology staff),
and implementation of a day-to-day strategy of responding efficiently to reporters’
requests for information.

"One of the strongest attributes of the Media Relations Office is that most
of our staff are experienced journalists who understand what makes a good story
and how to build relationships with reporters and editors," said Michael
Cinelli, director of the Media Relations Office since its inception in 1994. "We
want to be recognized by media outlets as responsive and informative, professional
in everything we do. That reflects well for the university and will bring media
outlets back to Rice’s many resources time and time again.

"And given the rapid development of technology in delivering news and information
to the media, our challenge is even greater: We have to make certain Rice is available
to journalists in all mediums."

The Media Relations Office is prepared to assist any school or department in developing
an outreach program aimed at increasing contact with media outlets. Contact the
office at (713) 831-4794 or by e-mail at mcinelli@rice.edu.