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Week in Review

Ali Lincoln

Fittingly for a patriotic weekend, on Sunday the United States won the World Cup. Correction—our ladies dominated Japan for a win. Impressively, they also dominated TV ratings, with the largest television viewership of any soccer game in American history. And yet, unfortunately, they have to deal with pay inequality and other forms of gender bias. Hopefully all of the media attention will help bring about some positive change in wage disparity and sexism in the sport—and maybe even in regular life, too.
If you’re not attending one of the many parades celebrating the team’s international victory, scroll down for the latest in higher ed news.
What’s new this week:
Augustana College Executive Vice President and Vice President of Enrollment, Communication, and Planning W. Kent Barnds had two hits this week—way to go! The first piece on the Huffington Post offers tips for prospective students on their college visits, and the second piece on Inside Higher Ed urges schools to use transparency as a guide in their college pricing policies.
What we’ve been talking about:
Most of the team was at the College Media Conference last week, but in case you missed it, enjoy Ali Lincoln’s round up of the event’s biggest takeaways.
Congratulations to Kyle Gunnels for his promotion to Assistant Vice President of TVP Communications!
Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action Blog featured guest posts from Keri Rursch, executive director of public relations, communication and marketing, and Sam Schlouch, director of public relations and arts promotions at Augustana College; Sue Cunningham, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education; and Lindsey B. Jakiel Diulus, public information and alumni relations officer for Nunez Community College.
What we’ve been reading:
Erin Hennessy
Coffee is perhaps the closest thing we have to a universal language, but I had no idea that coffee to go is a particularly American concept. As this Pacific Standard piece notes, “In the process of adopting the to-go cup, we told stories about ourselves. Coffee cups, like so many other consumer products, described who we wanted to be as much as who we were.”
Among the TVP Comms team, I’m the one who most often vetoes team selfie opportunities. Some might think it’s because I’m a fun-hater, but it’s really because I’m deeply concerned about the safety of our team. So I will be printing and distributing the pamphlet of selfie safety guidelines referenced in this article. You’re welcome, colleagues.
Kristine Maloney
The 24-hour news cycle and fast pace of American newsrooms can be downright exhausting, but this piece illuminates the alternative at a newspaper in Cuba completely cut off from the Internet. I’ll take an overwhelmingly fast pace any day if it comes with freedom of the press.
When I worked on a campus, summers were spent huddled in front of my (unsanctioned) space heater in multiple layers of clothing. I used any excuse I could to work from the library, which was not air conditioned, but those opportunities were limited, and so I mostly froze in my icebox office while the rest of the world was sweltering out of doors. Needless to say, this piece caught my eye. And some of the reasons why America is over air conditioned, as well as how extreme temperature changes can affect our brains, are fascinating.
Teresa Valerio Parrot
I feel like my childhood memories are pretty lacking and I am jealous of people who remember their past. For that reason, this article was very interesting. Truth be told, I’m not sure I remember much of anything that happened before I turned seven or eight. For that reason, I am forever asking family and friends for their memories of my childhood. And it’s fascinating to me how their stories align and diverge.
My Q2 resolution was to spend more time on Reddit and have faithfully done so each week. Last week I was mesmerized watching the Reddit Revolution unfold. This piece provides the “who” and “why” along with some interesting background.
Ali Lincoln
One of my life goals is to visit all of the national parks in the U.S., though for my purposes, I’m strictly talking about traditional parks, not monuments, historic sites, etc. that often get lumped into the same category. I have an awesome map that I can put stickers on after I visit a new one—and I don’t even care that it says “Junior Explorer” on it. Though I seemingly have some of “America’s Most Dangerous Destinations” to visit still, I say bring it on.
Teresa sent me this article earlier this week, and though I’m not a parent yet (and won’t have a college-going teen for another 18 years), I found this article fascinating. It makes me wonder not only how my own future parenting style will be classified, but also what kind of effects my kid’s upbringing will have on her. Hopefully I don’t actively contribute to any collegiate meltdowns.
Kyle Gunnels
I’ve been on Facebook now for more than 10 years, and it’s been fascinating to see how the network has grown and changed since it first launched. One of the biggest complaints about Facebook (other than data mining, of course) is the lack of control users have in what appears on your news feed, so I was especially excited to see this week’s news about Facebook turning over more control to users.
I love reading about obscure historical figures, especially ones that are a bit odd. This piece about the Cherry Sisters, a famous traveling performance group in the late 1800s, is a great peek into historical aspects of humor, public relations and our appetite for odd entertainment. The lasting question about the sisters is: “Were the Cherry Sisters—in their prime—the worst act ever on the American stage or were they comic geniuses, committed to the bit?”
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