Global & Admin News
Global and Admin News messages are direct emails sent on behalf of UBC Okanagan’s senior leadership to Okanagan campus community.
Global messages
Global messages are sent to all UBC Okanagan faculty, staff and student employees to communicate time-sensitive, campus-wide messages.
Recognizing delegated Deputy Vice-Chancellor authority, Global emails must originate at the request of members of the Okanagan campus executive and may include topics such as:
- Large scale announcements such as the downtown Kelowna presence
- Updates on high-profile or campus-wide topics such as COVID-19, TRC commitments or systemic racism policies
- Executive appointments/changes at VP level
- Senior-level appointments/changes (Dean, AVP, Executive Director or Senior Advisor to DVC level)
- Organizational changes that affect significant numbers of students, faculty and/or staff
- Urgent campus safety or health updates, emergency planning or campus disruptions
- Messages from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor or President
- Large-scale consultations and initiatives championed by a member of the Okanagan campus executive
Admin News messages
Admin News messages are sent to supervisors within an academic or administrative unit, and members of the Okanagan Campus Communicators Network. These messages are used to engage and inform the broader Okanagan campus supervisors on topics such as:
- Advance notice of university-wide initiatives or organizational changes that will be communicated to the broader UBC Okanagan campus community
- Updates on previous institutional messaging/invitations for feedback
- Large-scale project updates/developments
- Large-scale consultations and updates
- New tools or services for departments or individual faculty and staff
- Unplanned or short-notice service outages or interruptions
Contact
Questions should be directed to Alex Graham, Internal Communications Strategist, at alex.graham@ubc.ca.
Guidelines
When Global emails are sent
Global emails are normally issued Monday to Thursday, with a maximum of one email permitted each day.
Ownership, approvals and requirements
Global emails are owned by the Okanagan campus executive. University Relations acts as the coordinator/facilitator of this channel.
Global email requests must be submitted at least five days before the distribution date, and be approved by a member of the Okanagan campus executive. Global email signatories must be a member of the executive—with the exception of messages related to electoral announcements, campus safety updates, emergency planning messages or construction disruptions.
Global email requestors are encouraged to consider all available communication tools before requesting more than one Global message distribution on a single topic, event or development. In extenuating circumstances, a second Global email may be permitted, but a significant update must be made to the content before distribution.
Global emails should be written in a conversational style and tone that follows the Editorial Guide for UBC Communicators, the Indigenous Peoples Language Guidelines, the UBC Voice and Tone Guide. The UBC Visual Identity Rules should also be consulted if images are being used in the message.
The emails must also be scheduled at least five working days apart from any related messages, including items in The Exchange faculty and staff newsletter.
University Relations advises the Okanagan campus executive around message content and timing.
Criteria
To be considered for a Global email, the subject matter should fit the following criteria:
Timeliness: The information must be timely and must have significant importance to UBC Okanagan faculty, staff or students, and/or the operations of the campus.
Approval: The message must have approval from, and be attributed to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, a Vice-President (VP), Vice-Principal or Associate Vice-President (AVP), or the Executive Director of Human Resources.
Relevance: Global emails must communicate time-sensitive, high profile or campus-wide topics
Adherence to existing policies: All existing UBC policies governing communication shall be applicable to Global emails. See in particular Policy #96: Communications (PDF) and Policy #104: Acceptable Use and Security of UBC Electronic Information and Systems (PDF). The text of these policies are available on the University Counsel website.
Audiences
Global emails are sent to all UBC Okanagan faculty, staff and student employees. They are sent to the UBC Fasmail address listed in the Workday HR and Finance system.
Limitations of Global emails
Not all UBC faculty and staff check the email address listed in the Workday HR and Finance system. It cannot be guaranteed that the entire UBC Okanagan community will be reached if a Global email is sent.
Emergency Global emails
An emergency Global email is a message that is of immediate, critical importance to the health and safety or well-being of the campus community. Examples include campus-wide alerts regarding snow closures, water quality or wide-area power/systems outages, or natural disasters.
Global emails are only used as a supplementary channel to support UBC ALERT in the event of an emergency.
When Admin News emails are sent
Admin News emails are normally issued Monday to Thursday, with a maximum of one Admin News email distributed each day. However, an Admin News email can be issued on the same day as a Global email.
Ownership, approvals and requirements
Admin News emails are owned by the email signatory or the head of the department identified. University Relations acts as the steward/facilitator of the channel.
All messages must be requested at least five working days before the distribution date, and be approved by a member of the Okanagan campus executive, a dean or director.
University Relations adopts the role of advisor around message content and timing.
Criteria
To be considered for an Admin News email, the subject matter should fit the following criteria:
Timeliness: The information must be timely and must have significant importance for the majority of individuals within the intended audience and/or the operations of the campus.
Approval: The message must have approval from a member of the Okanagan campus executive, dean, director, manager or head of an academic or administrative unit.
Relevance: Admin News emails must communicate time-sensitive information that engages broader leadership on campus.
Adherence to existing policies: All existing UBC policies governing communication shall be applicable to Admin News emails. Se in particular Policy #96: Communications and Policy #104: Acceptable Use and Security of UBC Electronic Information and Systems. The text of these policies are available on the University Counsel website.
Audiences
Admin News emails are sent to supervisors within an academic or administrative unit, and members of the Okanagan Campus Communicators Network.
Other internal communication tools
There are a number of internal communications tools available to the on-campus community to disseminate university-related information.
- The Exchange: the twice per month faculty and staff newsletter
- Digital signage: displayed in buildings on campus
- Events.ok.ubc.ca: UBCO’s online events calendar
These communications tools should be used for all non-emergency announcements or information. Other forms of on-campus communication include departmental newsletters, posters and emails sent to department or faculty assistants.