@UWF Faculty & Staff Newsletter

• Announcement Responsibility: By submitting a newsletter announcement, the submitter acknowledges they have gone through the appropriate approval channels before promoting an announcement or event.
• Accepted Announcements: Announcements must be officially associated with the University (information, events, programs, etc.) and be relevant to UWF faculty and staff. Students do not receive the newsletter.
• Late Submissions: To allow time for review of announcement submissions and newsletter development, late submission requests received after a respective newsletter submission deadline will not be accepted. The submission will be included in the following newsletter. Announcement submitters should be aware of the submission deadlines and plan accordingly for submission.
• Passed Announcements: Submissions promoting dates for deadlines, events, etc. that have passed at the time of a respective newsletter distribution will not be accepted. Announcement submitters should review the submission deadlines table above and plan for submission accordingly.
• Advanced Submissions: Announcement submission requests for a future newsletter (i.e. announcements submitted in advance) will not be accepted.
• Announcement Corrections: If updates are needed for an announcement after submission, the submitter should provide the update by commenting in the assigned Jira ticket. After Institutional Communications has acknowledged and approved submitted announcements for newsletter inclusion, the submitter is fully responsible for providing any needed updates or removal requests (example: if an event has been canceled) by commenting in the assigned Jira ticket before 9 a.m. on the day of the respective newsletter distribution.
• @UWF Updates: If an urgent or high priority update is needed for an announcement after the 10 a.m. newsletter distribution, submitters should comment in their assigned Jira ticket with the update by 10:30 a.m. for Institutional Communications review. If approved, announcement updates will be distributed to faculty and staff at 11 a.m. with an @UWF Update.
• Repeat Announcements: Announcements are only published in one newsletter per submission. To repeat an announcement, a new ticket should be submitted only during the times listed in the submission deadlines table above.
  • Unless required by Florida law, announcements may only be repeated over a time span of one month.
  • For ease of timing to repeat an announcement, after a newsletter is distributed at 10 a.m. with the announcement, submit a new ticket with the announcement to be included in the next newsletter distribution.
• Announcements Outside Newsletter: @UWF does not distribute announcements outside the scheduled newsletter distributions.
• Public Meeting Notices: Public meeting notices are not included in the newsletter and should be submitted to the UWF Event Calendar. Please visit the Public Meeting Notice Submission webpage for more information.

Announcements are submitted with the forms linked at the top of this webpage. The form includes fields for the Announcement Title, Announcement Description, and Announcement Contact. The announcement will be constructed by Institutional Communications after acknowledging and approving the submission.

Announcement Title

• The Announcement Title should be 60 characters or less. Utilize the Character Counter tool if helpful. Submitted Announcement Titles longer than 60 characters will be edited in length to under 60 characters. The Announcement Title should be a concise statement for the Announcement Description.

Announcement Description

• Characters: The Announcement Description should be 600 characters or less. Utilize the Character Counter tool if helpful. Submitted Announcement Descriptions longer than 600 characters will be edited in length to under 600 characters.
  • Lists are not approved for Announcement Descriptions. The Announcement Description should be one paragraph of text.
• Links: Any additional information beyond the Announcement Description should be included on an accessible webpage in Confluence, on the main UWF website, or another external website that can be hyperlinked by the submitter in the Announcement Description.
  • Hyperlink any relevant links to appropriate text in the Announcement Description. Do not include links as separate text at the end of the Announcement Description.
  • File links (PDFs, images, etc.) are accepted for the newsletter on a limited basis. For accessibility, graphics with text or other elements, such as flyers intended for print, will not be accepted. Submitters should aim to link to an accessible webpage with more information.
  • Google Drive links (Docs, Sheets, Slides, images, PDFs, zips, videos, etc.) are accepted on a limited basis. The newsletter is distributed via Gmail which auto adds these Google Drive links as email attachments. To prevent this functionality, submitters should aim to link to an accessible webpage with more information.
    • Google Form links do not experience this functionality and are welcome for the newsletter.
• Promoter: The Announcement Description should identify the University department, group, unit, etc. promoting the announcement. For example, “We invite faculty and staff to…” should be “Institutional Communications invites faculty and staff to…”
• Events: If the announcement is event related, the submitter should include the event date, time and location in the Announcement Description which count towards the 600 characters max.
  • While announcements promoting University events (that have gone through the appropriate approval channels) are accepted for the newsletter, these events should be promoted in UWF event channels such as the UWF Event Calendar, Professional Development Learning Library, Argo Pulse, etc. where appropriate before submission to the newsletter. The event page with more information can be hyperlinked by the submitter in the Announcement Description.

Announcement Contact

• Name or department and UWF email address to be contacted if faculty or staff have any questions or want to learn more.
• "Questions? Contact name/department at email address." will be added to the end of the Announcement Description by Institutional Communications.
• If contact information is included with the Announcement Description by the submitter, that contact information will take precedence over the Announcement Contact field information.

Announcement Example

Connection Magazine Call for Submissions: Institutional Communications and Alumni Relations are currently accepting story ideas for the next issue of the Connection Magazine. We’re looking for big, transformative stories that showcase UWF students, faculty, staff and alumni making an impact around the world. Submit your story ideas by filling out the Connection Magazine Call for Submissions form. Limit one idea per submission form. Questions? Contact Institutional Communications at brand@uwf.edu.

Non-event announcements will be included in the leading University Announcements section of the newsletter in order of submission timing. If no non-event announcements are submitted for a respective newsletter, the University Announcements section will be removed.

Announcements promoting events (including event registration, event ticket purchasing, event volunteer requests, training sessions and workshops, etc.) will be included in the subsequent University Events section of the newsletter in order of event date regardless of submission timing. If no event announcements are submitted for a respective newsletter, the University Events section will be removed.

Announcements that are a combination of a non-event and event promotion will be considered an event announcement. Example: An announcement promoting a donation drive from date 1 to date 2 with a celebration event on date 3.

Obituary announcements will be included in a dedicated Faculty and Staff Obituaries section of the newsletter following the University Events section. If no obituary announcements are submitted, the Faculty and Staff Obituaries section will be removed.