University Launches Inside UCSF Web Portal for Faculty and Staff

UC San Francisco today is launching Inside UCSF, a web portal designed specifically to inform, inspire and engage the internal community.

Offering two separate pages for faculty and staff, Inside UCSF aims to:

• boost awareness and understanding of campuswide priorities and initiatives;
• increase engagement in an ongoing conversation about UCSF through a new internally focused blog and through other social media channels;
• leverage and enhance news and information sharing across the campus and medical center;
• reinforce key brand messages to tell the UCSF story consistently; and
• bring digital tools, technology and multimedia together to reflect UCSF’s innovation and excellence.

Engaging Employees in UCSF’s Story

The new blog will enable members of the UCSF community to post their own news – becoming bloggers themselves – and learn about the latest news including the achievements of people who make UCSF great, recent research publications, new grants and upcoming events.

Increasing employee engagement is critical to UCSF’s continued success, especially as the University looks toward involving faculty and staff in the celebration of the University’s 150th anniversary, the implementation of the clinical enterprise-wide strategic plan and the long-term planning initiative to chart the future direction of the University in a project called UCSF 2.0.

Information gathered from the recent employee engagement survey and faculty focus groups, other faculty input and the day-to-day experience of the offices of University Relations and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost has demonstrated a need to strengthen communication channels for faculty and staff, said Barbara J. French, vice chancellor of University Relations.

“We know that we are reaching our external audiences via our various communications vehicles, but we need to do a better job communicating with and engaging our internal audiences, namely faculty and staff,” said French. “The University will benefit by well-informed and engaged employees who know the clear connection between their roles and UCSF’s powerful impact.”

Collaborating Across Campus

The Inside UCSF web portal is a product of collaboration among staff representing a cross-section of the University community led by Lisa Cisneros, a member of the communications team at UCSF since 1994.

The Inside UCSF team included experts in communications, social media, academia, information technology, marketing and web design and development who met over the past four months to offer ideas on features and functionality.

“We aimed to provide a more effective platform for faculty and staff to access campuswide news, as well as news that is specifically relevant to them,” Cisneros said. “We also want to empower faculty and staff to share their own news and information – such as research, appointments, awards – that is both relevant to them and may be of interest to colleagues across UCSF.”

One of the main features of the new web portal will be the forthcoming debut of “Mission in a Minute” video series to highlight a diverse group of faculty talking about their work, its importance, and how it connects with the overall mission of UCSF in just 60 seconds.

The idea for the “Mission in a Minute” video series sprung from the School of Medicine’s annual leadership retreat in May. The series was developed in partnership with Sarah Paris, communications director in the School of Medicine, and Cisneros. After an initial call for submissions, a panel of experts then selected the first round of faculty to be featured. After the initial launch, the series will continue featuring one new video per month. Another round of video shoots will be scheduled in early in 2014.

To generate excitement and engagement in the internal community, University Relations is hiring a new internal communications manager. This manager will reach out across the campus and medical center in a variety of ways to get their feedback on Inside UCSF and to let them know how and what they can do to get involved.

Next, University Relations will implement responsive design and then turn toward a full redesign of UCSF.edu, paying particular attention to focusing on UCSF’s priority areas, in 2014.