PAINT PARTY
NEVER MISS A GAME
An Eastern alumna comes back to teach students how to paint pictures in the University Ballroom
Check out a schedule of when men’s and women’s basketball plays this season
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“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID” Wednesday, August 30, 2017 C E L E BRATI NG A CE NT UR Y OF COVE RA GE E S T . 1 915
VOL. 102 | NO. 9 W W W . D A I L Y E A S TE R N N E W S . C O M
Feedback sought in marketing Town Halls
BROOKE SCHWARTZ | DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Jalen Washington, a senior business and management major who is also working as an event planner for the Tarble Arts Center, and Rehema Barber, the director and chief curator of the Tarble Arts Center, discuss specifics for Tuesday night’s Tarble TalkBack event. Washington and Barber hoped that the Tarble TalkBack would allow people to make connections with each other and also with the Arts Center.
Tarble event helps students connect By: Valentina Vargas Contributing Writer | @ DEN_News Using colorful cards and other icebreakers, people got to know each other on the Tarble Tables during Tarble TalkBack. Tarble TalkBack was about getting people out of their comfort zone, developing connections to others and getting to know more about the Tarble Arts Center, organizers said. The Tarble Arts Center hosts three events per semester, with Tarble TalkBack being their first one of the semester. The next event,Tarble Tables Trivia, is scheduled for Sept. 21. Jalen Washington, event planner of the Tarble Arts Center and a senior majoring in business management,said he was motivated to coordinate an event like Tarble TalkBack to get students involved by doing fun things like the icebreakers. Icebreakers were in the form of a card question game, during which students and faculty were put into small groups. The numbered cards were colored red, yellow, blue or green. Based on the color and number of the card a person picked from the deck, that would be the color of the question and number they would ask everyone around the group. Grace Fosu, an event coordinator and graduate student studying economics, said the icebreakers helped others meet new people from different backgrounds with different perspectives on issues. The icebreaker questions ranged from asking about people’s favorite foods or movie to asking them why they chose Eastern. Another activity was the cups challenge, which consisted of groups trying to stack cups in a pyramid form. Each member of the group of four was holding a string attached to a rubber band to be able to grasp the cup and help place it in a pyramid. After some time forming the cup pyramid, the groups had to fight against the wind, which
BROOKE SCHWARTZ | DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Grace Fosu, a graduate student studying economics who also works at the Tarble Arts Center, contemplates her answer to some of the questions participants were asked at the Tarble TalkBack event. These included what their dream job is and what they want to be remembered for.
would knock the cups down. Ranosha Hall, a sophomore marketing major, said she came to Tarble TalkBack to meet new people. “(We should) encourage people to join activities like this to be open to other sides of their comfort zone,” Fosu said. As the event ended, people exchanged contact information and left together.
Washington said he hoped the event would be “very welcoming and exciting,” and that people would break barriers and leave with new friends. Reflecting on the experience, Hall said, “Now if I see (the students I met) around campus, I’ll say, ‘‘Hi.’”
Valentina Vargas can be reached at 581-2812 or vvargas@eiu.edu.
By Chrissy Miller News Editor | @DEN_News To show the progress being made by the Thorburn Group and gain community feedback, Eastern’s recently-hired professional marketing partner, Town Hall meetings are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. The meetings are set for 10 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday and 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, all in the Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. The information in the presentation will be the same for all four meetings. The Thorburn Group has worked together for six months with a group consisting of Eastern’s administrators and faculty. This group includes biology professor and graduate coordinator Britto Nathan, marketing director Stacia Lynch, the associate director of marketing Christy Kilgore, Steve Rich, assistant vice president for advancement, Eastern President David Glassman and Josh Norman, associate vice president for enrollment management. Norman said both groups have been working together to create a centralized brand for the university by using information from campus advocates. Thorburn was able to get this information by meeting with students, faculty, staff, alumni and prospective students. “They used that information from brand advocates to formulate what’s called a brand foundation. A brand foundation has a central idea and ethos and pillars that are also central ideas,” Norman said. “That’s part of what will be presented at the Town Halls. It’s like, ‘This is who we are. This is our message. This is our future brand.’” “It’s really necessary in order for this endeavor to be effective that this campus lives and breathes the brand,” Norman said. “That can only happen with the campus’ involvement and feedback and participation in the creative processes.” The three parts to the marketing initiative are creating brand awareness, shaping perceptions of Eastern and setting the university apart from the competition. Norman said while he has often heard Eastern referred to as the hidden jewel of higher education, the university cannot afford to be that anymore. During Town Hall meetings, attendees will be able to fill out feedback online to help shape the branding effort moving forward. “I hope that we have the lecture hall filled and have to move into the Dvorak for the sessions because so much of campus is represented,” Norman said. Eric Sickler, vice president of enrollment services for the Thorburn group said after going over input from the meetings, the group will start placing advertisements and begin re-scripting recruitment presentations and activities. The Thorburn Group are also working on creating a book with guidelines for Eastern’s marketing plan. “It’s designed for people at Eastern who are charged with creating and designing and developing materials to promote Eastern,” Sickler said. Sickler said meeting with the group of faculty and administrators weekly has really helped them come together in the marketing process. “This exercise is not creating a new and different Eastern Illinois University. It’s all about helping Eastern Illinois University tell its own authentic story,” Sickler said. Chrissy Miller can be reached at 581-2812 or clmiller9@eiu.edu