Communications Guidelines

To submit items that are appropriate to share with the MSU campus community – such as information on open houses, workshops or events that need an invitation or RSVP – please submit an event to the MSU Calendar or an announcement to MSU Today. 

We request that submissions be made three to five days in advance of its scheduled release date. If information is an emergency, please contact [email protected] along with your submission and our staff will work with you to get the communication out in a timely manner.  

Once a communication is ready for publication, it will be shared with the submitter to review. 

Information about common types of communications can be found below:  

• News briefs

• Emails
• New releases/stories

Questions about these guidelines should be directed [email protected].

News Briefs 

MarCom can produce news briefs which aim to discuss a concise event or notification for the UIT community. Brief topics can include planned outages, software launches and updates, staff hires and events.  

In general, MarCom recommends the briefs be about one to three paragraphs long and include what is happening, where it will take place, who will be affected/who the message is intended for, when the event is taking place and a person's name and information for contact. For new hire briefs, include the person's name, title, department and/or college, general duties and previous position. 

If a submitted brief is too long, a MarCom member will reach out and discuss other publishing opportunities.  

Emails 

Emails are a staple of UIT’s communication and area significant way to send a message to a large audience. Topics that would be appropriate for emailing are security concerns and suggestions,welcome back messages to faculty, staff and students, changes in programs or software, and more. Information should ideally benefit the MSU campus and not a specific event or announcement for a single department.  

Emails are created in the COPE Email Star system and will be sent out via the UIT Service Desk email account.  

Note: If an email is intended for MSU students only, please send content at least five days in advance. Student communications must be approved ahead of time by the Division of Student Success.   

News releases/stories 

A news release or story is reserved for information that needs more than one to three paragraphs to articulate. Releases can be about major events or initiatives that concern the MSU and/or Bozeman communities, major departmental or staff awards and features. News releases have the potential to be circulated to news organizations across the state if deemed newsworthy. MarCom encourages the preparation of such items by specialists in departments and will work with submissions to edit them for grammar and accuracy or help rewrite to align with the standards of MSU and news organizations.  

Stories would be no more than 600 words in length, in general, and would contain information that addresses news fundamentals: who, what, where, when, why and how.In order to write a proper release, MarCom needs as much information as possible to help convey the desired message and effectively tell a story.