New President stays active on social media

By Dylan Newman STAFF WRITER

San Jose State’s new President Cynthia TenienteMatson is active on Instagram under the handle @sjsuprezmatson, a public account that any student or faculty member can view.

At her previous position as President of Texas A&M University-San Antonio, Teniente-Matson used Instagram and Twitter as a way to hear from the students that she is leading.

“I wanted to think more about what was the best way to engage students and to hear student voices because of my own kids.” Teniente-Matson said. “And like I said, my nieces and nephews, I knew this was the way to communicate with them.”

Teniente-Matson said she participated in public relations courses at Texas A&M-San Antonio, where students took part in building her online presence and repertoire by hand as a PR project.

She said social media helps her hear about student issues from the source, where she actively advocates for them to speak up in her direct messages.

“I’d say to [students] DM me, reach out to me, you always know where to find me and I’ll respond if I can, or connect you to the right person,” Teniente-Matson said. “That’s how it started.”

Having both an active Instagram and Twitter under the same name gives students a direct line to her phone.

Robin McElhatton, assistant director of media relations at San Jose State, said the new president’s Instagram posts are primarily run by a social media team along with her own posts.

She said it allows her to now be a part of new