Annual Report 2006-2007 - Osgoode Hall Law School - York ...

COMMUNICATIONS
The 2006-07 academic year was marked by several
significant communications accomplishments, all of which
contributed to fostering greater awareness and knowledge of
the Law School among our target audiences.
Broadly speaking, the Law School made solid strides this year
in its communications with prospective LLB students, alumni
and the internal community (through regular messages from
the Dean). Communications to external audiences also
improved with the redesign of the Osgoode Web site.
However, media coverage of Osgoode for the last four
months of 2006 tended to rank below our major competitors.
The Law School also faced a difficult situation in the fall that
drew media attention and required adept communications
management when the Chief Law Librarian was charged with
a criminal offence.
Here are some, but by no means all, of the communications
highlights of the year:
Student Services
Instead of reprinting the LLB recruitment brochure this year,
Student Services put its resources into “new media” and
created a fresh and lively multimedia CD-ROM showcasing
our LLB Program. Developed at relatively low cost with the
assistance of a Toronto design firm, the multimedia
presentation featured interviews with students, faculty and
alumni at the Law School and on location. It was included in
the offer packages to prospective students and also used by
Student Services at recruitment fairs.
In 2007-08, Student Services plans to update and reprint the
LLB brochure; create a poster for our exchange partners; and
runs ads in Now and Eye Weekly to raise awareness of our
September and October open houses. The Future Students
Web site will also be spruced up with text updates and the
use of more graphics. In conjunction with Osgoode ITS, work
is already under way on the creation of a “live” online
Syllabus that will supplant the current Syllabus on the Web
that is a PDF document. This will allow Student Services to
make real-time updates to the Syllabus.
Advancement
One of the Office of Advancement’s goals for 2006-07 was to
increase the publication frequency of The Osgoode Brief
alumni e-newsletter from twice a year to a minimum of four
times a year, and to engage the services of an outside firm
for its distribution. The Office of Advancement recognized
that greater interaction with alumni is critical, especially in
light of the launch in the spring of 2007 of the public phase
of the Law School’s Capital Campaign, and took decisive
steps to increase communication to that audience. With the
assistance of Osgoode ITS, the department identified an e-
mail marketing and communications service called Emma
that made it possible for The Osgoode Brief to be distributed
once a month on average.
In 2007-08, the Communications Office will continue to
support the Office of Advancement by developing, writing
and editing content for publications such as The Osgoode
Brief and the Continuum alumni magazine, and helping the
department with other print and electronic materials as they
develop. The Communications Office will also assist in
publicizing the Capital Campaign through various means
including writing, media relations outreach, and overseeing
the development of the Campaign Web site.
Osgoode Web Site
The School’s redesigned Web site was officially launched in
November. More visually appealing, easier to navigate,
useful and logical than the three-year-old Web site we had
before, the look of the new Web site is compatible with York
University’s Web site and was designed by the same firm.
Professor Emeritus Simon Fodden, working with the doug
agency, Osgoode ITS, the Communications Office, and
members of the School’s Web Development Committee,
oversaw the redesign.
Among the improved elements of our redesigned Web site
are a new Law Library Web site; a new Clinical Education site,
made possible in part by generous funding from the Law
Foundation of Ontario; a completely reworked Faculty section
featuring new biographical information as well as scans of
faculty members’ publications; a leaner, better organized
Financial Services Web site; and a reorganized Graduate
Program in Law Web site. The Communications Office hired a
work-study student in 2006 to assist with the Faculty section
on the Web, and will bring in another student in 2007 to
complete the work.
The Court Web site, an online resource for debate and data
about the Supreme Court of Canada, was also launched.
Osgoode Professional Development, in conjunction with
Osgoode ITS, initiated a much-needed redesign of its Web
site in 2006-07, which will be a positive force for
highlighting OPD programs and attracting prospective
students once the redesign is completed in what is expected
to be the fall of 2007. Looking ahead to the 2007-08
academic year, the incoming Dean of Research, Graduate
Studies & Institutional Relations has indicated his intention to
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OSGOODE HALL LAW SCHOOL