Hello friends.

It’s been a long time since my last post – and time has indeed flown. A lot has happened professionally, and while I won’t blame that for the passage of time, it just meant that the beam of light had to point somewhere else for a change.

Starting last April and lasting until August was the work transitioning our newest class at USF into USF life. This meant daily connections with Facebook, Twitter, email, whatever. We did some really cool things that I have ALWAYS wanted to do, and it did take up time that I didn’t anticipate.

One of the new innovations that I came up with was a live text-based chat for incoming students. It was something that I always wanted to do. It was easy rounding up my colleagues to book their respective days, but it was harder yet to explain how the chats would work. In a nutshell, every Wednesday from mid-June until the week of Orientation, we had a chat session hosted by yours truly and another campus department. Public Safety, Career Services, SLE, Student Employment, you name it, we did it.

I found that students of this day/age are not so much text-based chatters…we didn’t get a TON of numbers, but I did find that students that came in, really liked it. Sometimes it was hard to get people to chat, so we wound up just talking amongst ourselves, which then led to some conversations. It wasn’t until the last day that it came to me. I have a uStream account and decided to host the text based chat and use the uStream as a diversion. Students could watch the chat as it unfolded including who was responding. It was really fun. I wish I had done that earlier.

Sadly, this will be the last time I do this for the incoming class. Working with Admissions was a freakin’ BLAST. They are so wonderful and very collegial; they allowed me to be part of the Facebook group for the last three years, and each year the groups got bigger, but it helped me so much to realize the strength of social media in helping with the transition. To have a face and  name answering your questions CONSISTENTLY is powerful and builds engagement like no other, and this is where I learned it. Yes, I am the Facebook girl, when first years see me on campus. I love it. This is a wonderful gift that I have been given, and I’m sad to not be able to continue it.

Which leads to my next update – I am going to be working with our Branch Campus students from here on out. This is a new position that I am in, and I took reigns in July. I had a heavy heart when I thought of the work, but it’s good work. This doesn’t mean that I will be leaving my Firsties in the dust. I will continue to assist when I can, and @iTweetUSF will forever be answered only by ME.

My commitment will always be to the success of students no matter where or who they are. This time the beam of light is pointed at the Branches, and that’s where I will be for now. Know that I remain committed to Hilltop campus in every pore and blood cell. My posts might not be as frequent (I’ll work on that), but I am still here and will still contribute to the amazing fabric of this wonderful place.

Ciao for now. I promise to be back.

Charlene