Submit a Story
Telling the UIndy Story
Great things happen at UIndy all the time. Students learn new skills to help them launch exciting careers. Faculty conduct research and connect their students with experiential learning opportunities. Well-known speakers and performers illuminate and entertain the campus community.
We want to share those stories. They tell people who we are and how we make a difference. Those stories tell prospective students that their journeys will start on the right foot with a UIndy education. They make our alumni flush with pride. They raise our reputation and they excite people about what it means to be a Greyhound.
Your stories support the university as a whole and help us communicate our brand promise. They highlight our brand pillars of elevating community, providing an atmosphere of innovation, and stimulating social good.
We look for stories with broad appeal to news media, prospective students and parents, alumni and donors, community partners, local and state leaders, and more. We look for stories that can be told in many ways on many platforms – this may include photos, videos, social media posts, and more.
Finally, we look for stories that align with the vision of our university leaders. We partner with deans and division vice presidents to identify the key priority areas for their areas, and we direct our efforts to address those high-level goals.
UIndy360 and YouUIndy
UIndy360 and YOUIndy are the destination for Greyhounds and the public to find dynamic digital content that tells the stories of the University of Indianapolis. In addition to being hosted on UIndy360/YOUIndy, this content can be shared through newsletters, on the university’s official social media platforms and with local media. Our staff seeks out stories that make UIndy great, and we invite story submissions, which can be submitted by completing this form.
What Are We Looking For?
We’re looking for stories that:
- Showcase the student experience in and out of the classroom. Exceptional examples that help to highlight how our students are engaged in active and collaborative learning.
- Highlight faculty and student experiences and projects that demonstrate collaborative research, scholarship, and creative activity.
- Communicate major grants, awards and partnerships that help to showcase the UIndy commitment to innovation, partnerships, and sustainable community development.
- Focus attention on activities that express UIndy’s dedication to a dynamic and diverse culture, global learning opportunities, and comprehensive internationalization.
- Pinpoint specific examples of how UIndy strives for academic excellence by providing students with challenging academic programs, collaborative learning opportunities, and enriching educational experiences.
Share a Story Pitch
When pitching a story idea, please remember that we aim to write stories from human-interest angles that are appealing to a broad audience. Please consider some of the questions below and incorporate them into your pitch to help us have the best understanding of how this story can support the university (understanding that not every story will fit perfectly into these categories).
- How is this person connected to UIndy?
- What makes them noteworthy?
- How did their UIndy experience help them grow and arrive at their success?
- How does their success make the community a better place?
- How do they continue to connect to UIndy?
Profile examples:
- Olya Mangusheva ‘11 (Master of Occupational Therapy): Living in Two Parallel Worlds – Ukraine and Indianapolis
- WZPL Air Personality Nikki Reed ’07 (Theatre) Donates Kidney to Stranger
- One Step at a Time: Laura Santurri Prepares to Run 160 Miles Across Indiana
- Olivia Vormohr ’19 ’20 (Finance, MBA) Uses School of Business as Launchpad to Success
- Why is this event important?
- What UIndy priorities does it promote or reflect?
- How is this event improving the community?
- Who attended? How many people attended?
- Does the speaker or presenter have a national level of influence?
- How is the topic relevant?
Event/News examples:
- Speech and Debate Team Goes Global and Earns High Marks at International Tournament in Tokyo, Japan
- UIndy Students Organize 11th Annual Special Olympics Youth Basketball Tournament
- UIndy School of Education Awarded Attract, Prepare, Retain Grant by Indiana Department of Education
- University of Indianapolis Human Identification Center Announces Partnership with Fishers Police Department to Interpret DNA Testing Results
- University of Indianapolis Announces Accreditation for Engineering Programs, $1.8 Million Gift, and Establishment of High School Partnership
For grants, awards and publications, we generally will write about them if they are known at a national level.
- Grants: We typically prefer to write about what research or initiative was made possible by the grant (see questions under research).
- Awards: We typically prefer to write a profile piece on the individual who won the award (see profile pieces), which would also include information on the award.
- Publications and academic work: We are happy to post brief write-ups, provided by the faculty member on UIndy360. Sometimes, in the case of groundbreaking research that can be expected to have broad public appeal, we will write publication stories either as research stories or profile pieces. To pitch a features publication story to the Newsroom, please consider:
- Is a UIndy community member the primary author?
- Does this work reflect the expertise of the UIndy author?
- Does the topic have a broad public appeal?
- Was the text published by or in a noteworthy publication?
- Did the publication win a national-level award?
We also ask that you have an idea of how this story will be used by your department and group, and provide examples, such as social media channels, where it can be shared.
After the pitch is submitted, it will be reviewed by the Communications team, typically within a week of being received. If the pitch is accepted, a writer will be assigned to the story, who will contact you. When possible, we ask for a lead time of three to four weeks to have enough time to conduct additional research, secure interviews, draft and review internally, and strategically place in our content calendar in a way that allows the story to stand on its own without being surrounded by other news or updates.