USI Today Editorial Guidelines
USI Today is the official internal communications vehicle for the University of Southern Indiana. The audience of USI Today is first and foremost an internal audience. As such, it is also a broad audience, reaching faculty and staff across all departments and colleges, as well as all retirees. Therefore, items included in USI Today must be USI-related and applicable to a majority of the campus.* Although USI Today may feature student news of interest to faculty, staff and retirees, at this time, it is not distributed to students.
USI Today emails are sent every Tuesday and Friday** and include stories, information, events and University-related announcements. USI Today emails serve as a companion communication to the USI Today website. If needed, and at the discretion of University Communications, USI Today Special Announcements may be sent via email to announce information outside of the normal newsletter distribution.
*Inclusion of submitted information and specific frequency of its publication in USI Today is at the editor’s discretion and is subject to editing for brevity and clarity.
**Distribution is generally every Tuesday and Friday. In some circumstances, holidays, summer months etc., distribution times and or frequency may change.
Submission Deadlines
Submissions must be received at least 3 to 5 business days prior to the preferred distribution date. However, bear in mind when submitting events, information received at least two weeks in advance will increase the likelihood that it will be featured, along with strategic weekly reminders leading up to the event. Failure to include pertinent information may result in a delay in inclusion in USI Today.
Submissions can be made using the online Submission Forms.
Promotion of Non-University-Related News, Events and Stories
USI Today is for news, events and stories pertaining to or organized, hosted, sponsored or co-sponsored by USI departments, colleges, centers, employees, alumni groups and officially sanctioned student organizations. USI Today will not accept news and event submissions from individuals or organizations outside of the University or news, stories or events about individuals or groups outside the University.
Campus-wide Email Guidelines
In general, mass email (campus-wide emails) of information/events intended for faculty, staff and/or retirees should be distributed through USI Today as part of an ongoing effort to reduce email volume. Along with USI Today there are a number of other communication channels to promote events.
There are exceptions for information that should be sent to faculty, staff and retirees directly from a USI department. While USI Today can be utilized as a back-up, generally the following departments may send emails directly for the examples shown:
- Provost’s Office [Academic news and information affecting a large portion of the USI campus community.]
- President’s Office [University news, announcements and information important to the entire campus community.]
- Human Resources [Examples: policy changes, handbook updates, payroll changes, information directly affecting jobs and benefits]
- Information Technology [Examples: security issues, outages and updates]
- Public Safety [Examples: Rave Alerts, security issues, parking lot, road and building closures]
Although there may be additional exceptions, we strongly encourage all other messages and communications intended for an internal audience be submitted through USI Today, or contact the internal communications specialist at 812-465-7005 to discuss alternatives.
ADA Compliance
To follow ADA compliance requirements, images without text or PDFs cannot be used in communications. Submitted images must include alternative text which clearly describes what the pictured element is, especially if text is included in the image.
Student Communication Channels
If students are the intended audience, check the event promotion page for appropriate student communication channels.