Goal: Engage and empower campus community

About the project

UC Davis had not cancelled classes in several decades, so when smoke from the Camp Fire drove air quality to unhealthy levels, Strategic Communications worked to communicate with all of its constituents on a daily basis to inform about closures, educate the community about risk and address questions and concerns. With the campus closure disrupting classes and campus operations from Nov. 12-25, 2018, Strategic Communications played an essential role in ensuring that all constituents understood their call to action providing messaging to the media, through a campus alert system, online and through social media. At the same time, team members covered the role UC Davis faculty, staff and students played in assisting those who lost homes and pets during the Camp Fire. We worked with colleagues across campus to ensure that information about buses, paychecks, mail, student support, and many other concerns were addressed. Our regular, proactive and interactive communication throughout the disruption and in the weeks that followed allowed us to reach not only our internal audiences, but also national audiences through storytelling about the impact of our volunteers and researchers in helping those affected by the Camp Fire.