Telling UW Environment’s story
Communicating science stories for the University of Washington’s College of the Environment
Working for the University of Washington’s College of the Environment was an incredible opportunity—and one I didn’t take for granted. Contributing to and growing my skills at an organization whose goals were in alignment with my own values felt meaningful then and now.
Every day, I contributed to marketing efforts that advanced the college’s mission—to rigorously explore how the world works, examine humans’ place within it, and gain the knowledge necessary to deploy equitable solutions to complex environmental problems.
In my role, I created and contributed to a variety of print and digital marketing materials that spoke to the college’s core audiences: donors, potential donors, current and prospective students, and the media.
You’ll see some examples of that work below, including stories for the college’s website, newsletter content, video work, organic social management (I launched the college’s Instagram page in 2015 with this post), and creative assets to support website projects, events hosted by the college and its dean, and more. Check it all out below. ⬇️
Interactive storytelling from the field
I wrote a diverse array of student, faculty, and research spotlight stories for UW Environment, from a Ph.D. student who samples ice cores to decode the history of earth’s climate to student-led science communication projects and a profile on leading invasive species researchers.
One story that really stands out is our spotlight on UW Environment’s geology field camp—offered annually thanks to support from donors—from the point of view of a non-traditional graduate student. Working with a designer and developer, we created an interactive, multimedia walkthrough of the student’s field notebook entries over a period of 40+ days. We hear about her experience first-hand—what she encounters in the field and key learnings along her journey.
The piece, filled with sketches, photos, video clips, and more, shows how life-changing an experience like this can be—and why it’s so important to be able to continue offering field-based opportunities to early-career scientists.
Headlines newsletter:
Before and after
At the conclusion of the 2015-2016 academic year, UW Environment wanted to revamp its long-running monthly newsletter (20K subscribers at that time).
Why? It no longer reflected the college’s brand, it felt clunky, and creating two versions—one for internal audiences (students, staff, and faculty) and external audiences (donors, alumni, media)—made preparing for sends duplicative and time-consuming.
From creative concepting and wireframing sessions, to renaming the newsletter, considering UX, and streamlining it into one version for all audiences, I’m particularly proud of what I contributed to UW Environment’s Headlines newsletter project.
Analyzed three quarters after launch, the new version of the newsletter resulted in a 6% increase in the click to open rate and a 1.4% increase to click-through rate.
Video interviewing, shooting, and editing
Organic social channel management
