Policy for News & Stories Published on the SMTD Website

Submitted Content

The SMTD marketing & communications team welcomes news stories submitted by SMTD faculty, staff, students, or alumni that are connected or related to the work being done at SMTD. Generally, this content would be similar in style and length to the short-form articles or announcements, as described below. Submitted content could be written as a news announcement/press release or, when appropriate, as a first-person narrative. All submitted content is subject to editing (for length, grammar, sense, and to conform to the SMTD style guide) by the marketing & communications team; edited versions will be shared with the writer prior to publication.

To submit a story, use this form.

Basic Guidelines

Submitted content should:

• Keep the audience in mind; SMTD’s website is primarily directed at prospective students and secondarily at those within the SMTD community (faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of SMTD – audience members, donors, etc.)
• Make a clear connection with work/research/teaching being done at SMTD
• Be timed for optimal news sharing – i.e., for a book publication, the announcement would ideally be posted once the book is available rather than prior to publication
• Ensure a broad representation of the school, its departments, and its faculty/students/alumni/staff on the News & Stories page as well as in department feeds

Submitted content should not:

• Overtly sell anything – tickets to events, publications, albums, etc.
• Promote personal achievements/events that are not connected to the submitter’s role at SMTD; more personal projects could be promoted on personal websites and social media accounts, and/or via faculty updates in Michigan Muse
• Overwhelm the news feed with news about specific departments/people

Content that does not adhere to these guidelines will not be approved for publication.

News Announcement/Press Release

• Book publications and journal articles
• Album releases
• Awards and other honors
• A cross-disciplinary collaborative project
• Student achievements
• Guest artist visits or master classes
• Upcoming events, in narrow circumstances – i.e., if there is a national level of publicity
• strong student component
• a recruitment benefit or focus

First-Person Narrative

• A faculty-led student trip abroad
• A special performance or event
• A collaborative and interdisciplinary project

Internally Generated Content

Internally generated content consists of articles initiated and written by the SMTD marketing & communications team (or commissioned freelance writers). Types of internally generated content include:

Long-Form Articles

• Special “only at SMTD”/ ”only at Michigan” events
• Interdisciplinary projects or events, covering multiple departments and/or collaborations with other U-M units
• Events that support the school’s mission and goals
• Unusual or extraordinary happenings (i.e., a capital campaign, newsworthy partnerships, historical milestones)

Short-Form Articles

• Hiring of new faculty
• Hiring/promotion of department chairs
• SMTD competition winners (including Friends of Opera, Briggs, Brehm, Concerto)
• External competition winners or honorees (including Sphinx, KCACTF, Naftzger)
• SMTD awards recipients (faculty, DEI, EXCEL, etc.)

Photo/ Video Articles

Description: Articles that focus on images and/or video with minimal text that serves to describe or explain the images/video. Examples include:

• Design & production portfolio presentations
• Media Coverage summaries

Announcements

Note: Typically the information for announcements is submitted to the SMTD Marketing & Communications team, with some additional writing/editing done by team members. Announcement information can be submitted via this form.

Note: If an external article exists on such topics, and it’s clear from the text of that article who the subject is and how they are connected to SMTD, these announcements can take the form of an external linkout.