Spring Break
UConn President Uses Blog To Communicate With Students, Community
Madeline Ward
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News
When asked if he viewed it as a leisure activity or just another part of the job, Hogan said, "I consider it an extension of one of my responsibilities, which is to keep in touch with faculty, students, staff, and our wider UConn family. But it's not just another part of the job, either, because I really enjoy doing it, as I enjoy most of the things I do."
As for what sort of content a student can expect to find in Hogan's blog, he said, "There might be something about a professor's research or an award she or he received; something about student activities or upcoming events that I noticed and thought were worthy of wider attention; something about staff accomplishments or recognition of a special effort; sometimes just something about the weather. Also, I've posted some letters and announcements on my blog that I also sent out via email or snail mail, because I wanted to be sure that as many people had an opportunity to read them as possible."
Rhodes admitted the blog was not the most forgiving of formats.
"We're still working some of the bugs out of his UConn blog - we don't have the email link in the right place and there are some other formatting adjustments we'd like to make, but we have a lot of other things besides the blog to do, too."
"[The blog] helps him overcome to some extent the difficulty of one person - the president- having a relationship with some 40, or 50,000 people," Rhodes said. "And he's a strong believer in transparency and access as much as possible. The blog is not meant to be some sort of official pronouncement or something."
Some students have not been able to read Hogan's blog because they don't know about it.
"No, I had no idea he had [a blog]," said Jessika Lobraico, a 4th-semester biology major. "I would read it, if I knew where it was. I met him at a basket ball game he seemed like a cool guy."
Contact Madeline Ward at Madeline.Ward@UConn.edu.
As for what sort of content a student can expect to find in Hogan's blog, he said, "There might be something about a professor's research or an award she or he received; something about student activities or upcoming events that I noticed and thought were worthy of wider attention; something about staff accomplishments or recognition of a special effort; sometimes just something about the weather. Also, I've posted some letters and announcements on my blog that I also sent out via email or snail mail, because I wanted to be sure that as many people had an opportunity to read them as possible."
Rhodes admitted the blog was not the most forgiving of formats.
"We're still working some of the bugs out of his UConn blog - we don't have the email link in the right place and there are some other formatting adjustments we'd like to make, but we have a lot of other things besides the blog to do, too."
"[The blog] helps him overcome to some extent the difficulty of one person - the president- having a relationship with some 40, or 50,000 people," Rhodes said. "And he's a strong believer in transparency and access as much as possible. The blog is not meant to be some sort of official pronouncement or something."
Some students have not been able to read Hogan's blog because they don't know about it.
"No, I had no idea he had [a blog]," said Jessika Lobraico, a 4th-semester biology major. "I would read it, if I knew where it was. I met him at a basket ball game he seemed like a cool guy."
Contact Madeline Ward at Madeline.Ward@UConn.edu.
Be the first to comment on this story