Bob Johnson's Blog on Internet Marketing

Sitting here at LAX waiting for a late plane from Minneapolis... and thus time to get back and update the list of college and university presidents who blog. The addition of 3 new people below brings the total list to 39 presidents. Thanks to everyone who sent along these notices.

Check all 39 entries at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

Our three new presidents who blog are a mix of old and new:

• Alastair Summerlee at University of Guelph at http://www.uoguelph.ca/president/blog/ I love the title of this one, "From the President's Window." Summerlee joins those who include their photo with the blog as a nice, personalizing touch. Everyone should do that. President Summerlee is an overdue addition here. He's been blogging since August 2006 but earlier online searches didn't locate him. Recent postings are quite substantive, dealing with Canada's ongoing higher education funding dilemma.
• Jules Glanzer at Tabor College at http://blogs.tabor.edu/presidentsblog/ This new blog starts with posts about a trip to Poland and the Ukraine to explore the roots of the college's Mennonite heritage. Grant Overstake at Tabor writes that the list of presidents who blog helped convince President Glanzer to start this one when he "recognized several colleagues on the list." Many photos in this first effort will no doubt have strong appeal to the alumni and friends of Tabor.
• Wallace Boston, president of the American Public University System, blogs at http://wallyboston.com/ where his most recent post is a detailed review of new legislation to provide increased educational benefits for veterans based on presentations at an ACE presidential summit. President Boston's blog started in May 2008.

The continued increase in presidents who blog is exciting. It represents an important leadership commitment to bring a more human element to online communications. While some PR people and lawyers may still get shivers about this, no evil has come from it yet. I'll look forward to posting more new additions as more presidents start to blog.

With just 30 minutes to boarding my flight, that's it for now.

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People often ask me if college and university presidents who blog actually write about serious and even contentious topics in the blogs. And the answer, of course, is that some do and some don't.

At Coastal Carolina University, President David DeCenzo's blog certainly is one that does not shrink from presenting the results of financial and administrative audits that have recommended significant changes at the institution. DeCenzo asks for comments and gets them... 22, for instance, in January in response to a posting on the report from an accounting firm auditing financial practices at the school. In February, 29 comments were received in response to a post on a realignment of the university budget approved by the trustees. And the president responds to comments so there is indeed a dialogue taking place in full public view.

"Dave's Blog" started in January 2008, with limited postings since then: one in February and two in May. Read the postings and the comments at http://www.coastal.edu/president/blog/

Today's new addition brings the total list of college and university presidents who blog to 36 people listed at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

Lurking somewhere in my not-so-new email is at least one more to add to this list. I'll ferret that out and get it up soon.

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Here's the latest result of a Google search for college and university presidents who blog while waiting for a flight to CUPRAP in Hershey, PA.

Niel Nielson at Covenant College started his blog in September of 2007 but this is the first time it came back in an online search. (Remember that if your president starts blogging and the search results are not immediate.)

President Nielson posts regularly, 12 times since September. Comments are allowed. Every post has at least one and some have as many as 5 responses.

You'll find the blog at http://president.blogs.covenant.edu/

My list of 35 college and university presidents who blog is at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html 

Follow the links to your favorites.

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The small and distinguished group of college and university presidents who blog continues to expand, this week with two new additions sent along after friends at TargetX highlighted the recent Hartford Courant article and the "long list" of 34 presidents who blog at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

Our new people today:

• Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, at http://www.netbloghost.com/mouw/ 
• Dale Lunsford, president of LeTourneau University, at http://presidentsblog.letu.edu/

"Mouw's Musings" go back to December 2006, with at least two new entries every month since then for an admirable contribution consistency record that everyone should seek to match. Two months even hit 5 listings. You'll also find an unusually high number of comments on this blog. Postings are longer than most, with the comments proving that interested people will take the time to read longer than usual entries.

President Lunsford's blog started in August 2007. In the month of January alone, he made 8 entries. While I haven't checked every president's blog for frequency, that has to be close to a record.

Each blog includes a photo of the president. That's a personal touch that I'd recommend everyone use to get just a bit closer to readers, especially those that might not have met the president in person.

Visit the master list of 34 college and university presidents who blog at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

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In my email Tuesday for the Link of the Week selection at my website, I included a "P.S." asking for people to review the list of 31 college and university presidents who blog and send along a link to presidents who were not yet listed.

And so thanks to Thomas Mansperger, director of undergraduate admission at Ashland University, for letting me know that Frederick Finks is a president who blogs. Always good to see the list continue to grow. With three new additions in January, 32 people are now included.

President Finks keeps up a good pace. Since August 2007 he made three posting a month through November, then dropped back to two in December. That frequency seems just about the right pace. No entries yet for January.

Visit the blog at http://apps.ashland.edu/blogs/ffinks/

The list of 32 presidents, starting at Arizona State University and ending at Westchester College, is at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

Posted by Bob at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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The latest entries to the master list of college and university presidents who blog represent the ongoing diversity of institutions whose presidents have taken to regular online communications in the blog format.

University of Connecticut

On one end of the scale, we have a new blog from Michael J. Hogan at the University of Connecticut, "PresRelease" at http://blogs.uconn.edu/president/

• In a brief intro blurb, he tells us that "The PresRelease is my own little page where I can share items of interest, celebration, or concern with my University colleagues. It's my hope to update things here every few days." The promised frequency of posting is admirable. The blog started last December and so far he seems to be keeping his promise of frequent postings.

Cornerstone University

For another small school example, see Rex Rogers at Cornerstone University. He started his blog back in November of 2005 and wrote recently in a comment here that he's been "in hiatus" recently but plans to start up again soon. You'll find many past blog postings at http://www.cornerstone.edu/about/rexmrogers/blog/

On another note, I'm told that the president of Quest University in Canada isn't writing his blog anymore. I'll leave that on the master list for now since past entries are still available at http://strangway.blogspot.com/

The full list of 31 blogs by college and university presidents, including links to the blogs, is at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

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Here's the latest entry to the list, thanks to a note from Tim Etchells, director of interactive communications at Middlebury College. This one hadn't yet turned up during my Google searches for college and university presidents who blog.

The new entry is from Michael Roth, president since July 1, 2007. Don't know why, but the "President's Page" profile under "Administration" doesn't mention the blog... and so, of course, doesn't connect to it.

That said, President Roth is a prolific poster at http://roth.blogs.wesleyan.edu/ with 17 posts between August 31 and December 11.

Critics of the Wesleyan financial aid policy

For an example of why some public relations people are not happy with college and university presidents who blog, see the comments under the November 21 post, "Thanksgiving and the First Taste of Snow." While you can't tell from the title, 4 of the 7 comments take Wesleyan to task for a financial aid award policy that doesn't include merit scholarships and therefore, according to the comments, drives middle class students away from the school by forcing them to accept too much debt if they enroll.

You'll find another comment about what Wesleyan is doing to reduce loan debt. Financial aid policy on loans is being revised downward, from a expected $26,000 loan debt over four years to between $10,000 and $19,000.

All in all, an interesting addition to the growing group of presidents who blog and a good example of letting the light of day shine on topics that everyone is already talking about anyway. And that's good public relations.

See the full list of 29 college and university presidents who blog at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

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After my note in yesterday's "Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter" for November about the list of 25 college and university presidents who blog, along came two notes from Kathy Kissane at Philadelphia University and Jason Lisovicz at University of Houston about presidents at PhilaU and University of Southern Mississippi. A quick Google search after that lead to a third new finding at West Virginia University.

And so the list now moves to 28 people. One of these has moved since his first listing at Ohio Dominican University in Ohio to Anna Maria College in Massachusetts, where a new blog is about to start but isn't quite ready yet.

The new entries today are:

• Stephen Spinelli, Jr. at Philadelphia University at http://www.philau.edu/president/blog/
• Martha Dunagin Saunders at University of Southern Mississippi at http://www.usm.edu/blogs/president/
• Mike Garrison at West Virginia University at http://mikesnotes.blogs.wvu.edu/

Read these and other bolgs on the master list at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

Have to run off to lunch and discussion groups at Carol Aslanian's seminar here in San Francisco. I'll get these three added to the full group after I'm back from here.

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Yesterday, during a break from sessions at the AMA marketing symposium here in San Diego, I started reviewing the 25 blogs from from college and university presidents listed at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

In this case, I was looking to see how many of the blogs included any type of branding or positioning statement at the start of the blog page. And I was surprised to see that almost none of them took advantage of that opportunity. There were some exceptions:

• Pat McGuire's Trinity Washington University blog at http://www.trinitydc.edu/offices/president/blog/ reminds us that Trinity stands for "Innovation, Integrity, Influence."
• The strongest use of a branding element is at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, where MaryLynn West-Moynes' blog lets us know that Mohawk stands for "Inspiring Learning, Leadership, and Citizenship" at http://blogs.mohawkcollege.ca/blog/president/

And there should be a special note for Dick Celeste at Colorado College. His blog at http://www.coloradocollege.edu/welcome/presidentsoffice/blog/ had a rare title, "Flow of Ideas," that provides a nice introduction to the experience of reading his postings.

And while on the subject of presidents, people here at the Symposium had a special treat yesterday at the lunch time keynote to hear a talk by Dickinson College president William Durden on the 10-year transformation of an ailing if not failing residential liberal arts college into a thriving place with increased applications, restored alumni pride, and a much larger endowment.

The most telling measure in the Dickinson story is the dramatic drop in the tuition discount rate from 50 percent to 30 percent. More than any other single measure, the discount rate for private institutions tells the tale about competitive strength.

It was a great presentation.

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The master list of presidents who communicate with a personal blog reaches 25 today with the addition of a new entry from Seward County Community College in Kansas City.

You can read President Duane Dunn's blog at http://blog.sccc.edu/president.php

The president strives for bi-weekly postings and seems to be keeping up with that schedule, although I didn't find any dates on the postings.

This is one blog you can't miss from the front page of the college site. It was the first item listed at http://www.sccc.edu/ today.

New Project on Presidents Who Blog

As the number of presidents listed here grew past 20, a not-so-curious thing started to happen. People are asking questions about how presidents "do" these blogs with the expectation that I'll know the answer. Sometime I do, most of the time I don't. That's because until now I've been adding entries to the list without regularly reading many of them. That's will change, with a new schedule to rotate through several each week and begin to build information about what's happening in the world of college and university presidents who blog.

25 College & University Presidents Who Blog

Review the list of presidents who blog at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

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OK, it isn't yet an avalanche of new college and university presidents who blog but there's no doubt that the rate of increase is stronger this past month or so than at any time since I started the master list over a year ago.

Not long after my last entry for University of Calgary, Melissa at Academica Group replied with a comment that the president at Cambrian College in Ontario had started a blog. And a couple of days after that, the usual Google search turned up two more, another Canadian entry from Trinity Western University and the president at Vermont's Middlebury College.

You'll find those blogs here:

• Cambrian College's Sylvia Bernard at http://www.cambriancollege.ca/wordpress/
• Middlebury College's Ron Liebowitz at http://rononmiddlebury.wordpress.com/
• Trinity Western University's Jonathon Raymond at http://jonathanraymond.blogspot.com/

See the full list of 24 college and university presidents who blog at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

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Unexpected benefits often come along after events such as yesterday's web conference on web writing for Academic Impressions.

Adam Zakreski, eCommunications Specialist at the University of Calgary, was visiting this blog after the conference, noticed the master list of college and university presidents who blog, and sent along a note that his president, Harvey Weingarten, has just started a blog in early September.

In his first entry, the president offers three reasons for starting to blog. The second one, about the value of regular communication from the president's office, was especially strong:

• "Universities continue to go through times of change (or, more accurately, the U of C is going through a period of considerable change) and nothing is more important during such times as regular and effective communication about what changes are happening and why. One of the occupational hazards of senior administration at universities, especially large ones, is an almost obligatory distancing from the rank and file – students, staff and faculty, among others. I try to communicate regularly with the university community but it just seemed sensible to try blogging as a way of keeping in better touch. We talk a lot about being at the cutting edge of technology – I thought I might as well try to use some of this technology to help on the communication side."

Since that first post, two more have come along in September. That's a pretty good presidential pace. Follow new postings from President Harvey Wiengarten in "Notes from the President" at http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/blog/harvey

The full list of 21 college and university presidents who blog is at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/07/15_presidents_who_blog_saint_v.html

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Today we reach an even 20 college and university presidents who blog with the addition to the master list of Mary Cullinan, president at Southern Oregon University.

The president started her blog in April 2007 and her goal is simple: "I’m starting this blog to provide informal and regular communication from the President’s Office. I’ll try to post frequently—though I’m sure there will be gaps during particularly busy times."

She's done well so far, with 16 posts through September 17. 

Southern Oregon, one of the 24 members of COPLAC (Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges), has apparently been through a recent retrenchment experience. President Cullinan is new and she writes frankly about the budget, a continuing enrollment challenge caused by earlier small freshmen classes, and more.

Read her blog at http://www.sou.edu/president/blog/blog013.html

See my full list of 20 college and university presidents who blog at an earlier post, starting with Arizona State University and ending with Westchester College.

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Haven't done anything statistical about this, but my imagination is telling me that the ranks of college and university presidents who blog is growing a bit faster in the last three to six months than it has been doing before that. Or maybe I'm just searching for them more often.

With today's addition, the master list at the July 1 2007 posting climbs to 19 presidents.

Today's entry is for the blog of Bethany College's "Dr. Ed" at http://swedesprez.blogspot.com/

Ed Leonard started as president just a few months ago and started his blog with a July entry. In his own words, this is why he's writing the blog: 

• "My intention is for this blog to not be a daily diary but an occasional journaling of what's happening at Bethany, with me, or within the broader Bethany community. I hope this sharing is for the benefit of Bethany College and its many stakeholders."

 So far, President Leonard had made 8 entries, a strong pace since July.

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Our newest addition to the list of college and university presidents who blog is from The College of Westchester in New York. President Karen Smith made 5 entries between March and July 2007.

Nothing controvesial in this blog, although she does admit to not reading new books as fast as she might. In this case, she didn't get to Tom Friedman's The World is Flat until after he'd added a new forward to the original edition. I can relate to that as I haven't yet quite finished my own copy.

You'll find this blog at http://www.cw.edu/presidentsblog/

And you can find the list of 18 presidents who blog at the July 1, 2007 entry.

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Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario, Canada, is the lastest addition to my list of colleges and universities with presidents who blog. This brings to 17 the list of presidents at my July 1 entry.

At Mohawk, President MaryLynn West-Moynes started her blog in October 2006, although this is the first time a Google search has found it for me. In her latest entry from July 25 she's writing about a new, condensed two-year business program that will run classes from Tuesday through Thursday "to help make life a little easier for our students, especially those with work and family commitments outside the classroom."

She makes it sound much nicer in her blog than what you'd expect to find in a formal press release.

You can review her posts at http://blogs.mohawkcollege.ca/blog/president/

The list should continue to grow. From what I heard at the ACT Enrollment Planners Conference and the eduWeb 2007 conference, at least a few more presidents have serious plans to start blogging soon. Friends have promised to let me know when they debut their new contribution to the mix of marketing messages.

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Slowly, but steadily, the number of college and university presidents who blog continues to grow. Today I'm adding the president of Hendrix College to the master list at the July 1 blog entry. That brings the total to 16.

At Hendrix, President J. Timothy Cloyd used his last blog entry in May to solicit recommendations for a summer reading list. He included a personal selection, Richard Ford's novel, The Lay of the Land, and a link to a long list of others from the Hendrix College community.

President J. Timothy Cloyd blogs at http://www.hendrix.edu/president/presblog.aspx

A July 20 article in the Kansas City Star gives an overview of presidents who blog, including an interview with President Ron Slepitza at Avila University. The article also includes a comment from the perspective of a public relations person at a different university who is not fond of the idea.

Part of the problem? Presidential blogs create extra work to monitor what the president is writing about to prepare for possible adverse reactions. My reaction? Welcome to the era of Web 2.0 that's creating new work for everyone in the communications arena.

The Start article is at http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/198911.html 

I was interviewed for that article and the reporter did an excellent job of presenting my responses to her questions.

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A reporter from the Kansas City Star called Wednesday for a quick interview on my thoughts about college and university presidents who blog. I thought I'd share some of the questions and my responses here.

How do these blogs fit into the marketing picture?

• Blogs are in part a reflection of the interest in "reality based" marketing that moves us away for carefully scripted statements about various issues and topics. Presidents who share their honest personal opinion abut important things on their campuses fit well with the Web 2.0 era of online communications.

Are there legal issues to be afraid of?

• I've seen a few references to advice from lawyers that presidents should not write blogs for fear that they will say something that might damage the legal standing of their institution. To date, I'm not aware of anyplace where this has happened. If we always listened to the advice of lawyers protecting us from worst-case scenarios, our communications would be limited indeed. (And its worth noting that at least a few traditional PR people are quite wary of presidential blogs and get nightmares at the thought that a president might go directly to a blog and write something that hasn't been prepared for them and reviewed by the PR staff.)

Are blogs spreading rapidly throughout higher education?

• Not that I've noticed. I have 15 listed in my July 1 blog entry and that list has grown slowly over the past year or so. Blogging isn't for every president. You have to have the right personality, an ability to write in a relatively informal style, and the time and interest to post on a regular basis. I'd expect slow cotinuing growth.
• There's no special pattern to where you'll find presidents who blog. The 15 include people at major public universities, smaller private colleges, and two-year schools. As is so often the case in higher education marketing, who's doing what often depends on who "gets it" at a particular place more than the type of institution.

Is there an award given for best presidential blogs?

• Not that I've heard of yet. Might be time to check CASE and other possibilities.

Those were the questions of most interest to the reporter. Her start towards an article was prompted by the blog of Ronald Slepitza at Avila University. She did ask about the content of various blogs, but I've never done a systematic review of that. Some of them are very serious indeed, some are much less so.

The best blogs, of course, mix things up. If, for example, you might use this weekend a recipe for a "Skyline Chile Party Dip," you'll find one on the Avila presidential blog at http://www.avila.edu/President/presblog.asp 

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The list of presidents who blog continues to grow despite the fears and admonitions of lawyers and public relations people who warn against some terrible damage to their institutions if their presidents are let loose to say whatever they want to say on the insitutional website. So far, that's not happened. And if indeed it does, it won't be cause to remove everyone else's blog from the Internet.

Special thanks and congratulations to every college and university president who takes the time to share his or her dreams and opinions in a blog. If your president blogs and isn't listed here yet, let me know at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com

• Arizona State University... Michael Crow at http://www.michaelcrow.net/
• American Public University System... Wallace Boston at http://wallyboston.com/
• Ashland University... Frederick Finks at http://apps.ashland.edu/blogs/ffinks/
• Avila University... Ronald Slepitza at http://www.avila.edu/President/presblog.asp
• Bethany College... Ed Leonard III at http://swedesprez.blogspot.com/
• Cambrian College's Sylvia Bernard at http://www.cambriancollege.ca/wordpress/
• Cedarville University... Bill Brown at http://www.xanga.com/billbrown
• Coastal Carolina University... David DeCenzo at http://www.coastal.edu/president/blog/
• Colorado College... Dick Celeste at http://www.coloradocollege.edu/welcome/presidentsoffice/blog/
• Cornerstone University... Rex Rogers at http://www.cornerstone.edu/about/rexmrogers/blog/
• Covenant College... Niel Nielson at http://president.blogs.covenant.edu/
• Fuller Theological Seminary... Richard J. Mouw at http://www.netbloghost.com/mouw/
• Hendrix College... J. Timothy Cloyd at http://www.hendrix.edu/president/presblog.aspx?ns1_mtid=1618&ns1_mtt=5&ns1_mid=256
• LeTourneau University... Dale Lunsford at http://presidentsblog.letu.edu/prezweblog/2008/01/index.html
• Michigan State University... Lou Anna Simon at http://president.msu.edu/
• Middlebury College's Ron Liebowitz at http://rononmiddlebury.wordpress.com/
• Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology... MaryLynn West-Moynes at http://blogs.mohawkcollege.ca/blog/president/
• Ohio Dominican University... Jack Calareso at http://www.ohiodominican.edu/blogs/blogs/president/default.aspx
• Oregon Institute of Technology... Martha Anne Dow at http://www.marthaannedow.blogspot.com/
• Pellissippi State Technical Community College... Allen Edwards at http://www.pstcc.edu/president/
• Philadelphia University... Stephen Spinelli, Jr. at http://www.philau.edu/president/blog/
• Quest University... David Strangway at http://strangway.blogspot.com/
• Red River College... Jeff Zabudsky at http://www.rrc.mb.ca/blog/
• Saint Vincent College... Jim Towey at http://www.stvincent.edu/president/blog
• Seward County Community College... Duane Dunn at http://blog.sccc.edu/president.php
• Southern Oregon University... Mary Cullinan at http://www.sou.edu/president/blog/
• Tabor College... Jules Glanzer at http://www.tabor.edu/experience-tabor/blogs/presidents-blog
• Towson University... Bob Caret at http://presidentcaret.org/
• Trinity Washington University... Pat McGuire at http://www.trinitydc.edu/offices/president/blog/
• Trinity Western University's Jonathon Raymond at http://jonathanraymond.blogspot.com/
• University of Calgary... Harvey Weingarten at http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/blog/harvey
• University of Connecticut... Michael J. Hogan at http://blogs.uconn.edu/president/
• University of Guelph... Alastair Summerlee at http://www.uoguelph.ca/president/blog/
• University of Southern Mississippi... Martha Dunagin Saunders at http://www.usm.edu/blogs/president/
• University of Washington... Mark Emmert at http://depts.washington.edu/presblog/wordpress/
• University of West Virginia... Mike Garrison at http://mikesnotes.blogs.wvu.edu/
• Wenatchee Valley College... Jim Richardson at http://wvcpresident.blogspot.com/
• Wesleyan University... Michael Roth at http://roth.blogs.wesleyan.edu/
• Westchester College... Karen Smith at http://www.cw.edu/presidentsblog/

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Google searches from time to time haven't turned up a new president's blog in a few months, but now here's a new one from Ronald Slepitza at Avila University in Kansas City.

His blog entries started in March this year. The president promises "random thoughts about the University" at http://www.avila.edu/President/presblog.asp in the five postings he's made since March 30. The blog accepts comments and you'll find some for each entry.

The idea of presidents writing blogs may cause concern and consternation among more than a few lawyers and public relations folk, but so none have placed the future of their institution in jeopardy.

If your president is inclined to give it a go, be encouraging. Blogs sure beat most versions of "A Message from the President."

Posted by Bob at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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This one has escaped in previous Google searches for college and university presidents who blog, unless my eyeballs just were not tracking well. Our new entry started to blog back in May 2006.

Allen Edwards, president of Pellissippi State Technical Community College in Knoxville, TN writes long and short entries on topics ranging from his discovery of the term "helicopter parents" (short) to how public schools can better prepare students for college by paying more attention to ACT benchmarks for success in English composition, biology, social sciences, and algebra (long).

President Allen Edwards blogs at http://www.pstcc.edu/president/

If you know of a college president who blogs and isn't listed here yet, send me the name at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com and I'll add she or he to the postings.

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Longer ago than I remember, a reporter for the New York Times called to interview me about college and university presidents who blog. A long interview translated into a few comments at the end of the article just printed today. If you are persistent, you'll see them.

What's more important than my quote is the hope that an article like this might inspire a few more college and university presidents to enter the slowly growing group of those who blog. The article points out that some presidents are more serious (and daring) than others about what they write about. But all in all, it is indeed a positive move in Internet communications that presidents take the time to do this rather than limit their web presence to a "message from the president" and an annual state of the institution report.

The article covers the efforts of just a few. If a longer list is more likely to inspire your president, see the entries here under the "Presidents Who Blog" category.

Read the New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/22/education/22blogs.html?ex=1164862800&en=e189e8ac271db756&ei=5070&emc=eta1

And thanks to Kevin Kennedy at Marlboro College for sending along a note with the link.

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Despite the regular searches I've been doing for college and university presidents who blog, this is the first time that this blog has appeared, although the president has been writing since May of 2006.

In a recent posting, President Martha Anne Dow introduces a revised version that now includes photographs and writes that she will "endeavor to always have visuals."

Scan the postings and you'll see that President Dow addresses some weighty issues. On October 23, for instance, you'll find a chart on budget revenue sources over the past 5 years that shows the decrease in state support and the increasing dependence on tuition revenue.

President Martha Ann Dow blogs at http://www.marthaannedow.blogspot.com

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As these posting of college and university presidents who blog has grown over the last few months, I've been remiss in not adding one of the original bloggers in the presidential ranks, Patricia Maguire at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C.

President Maguire's archives go back to September of 2005 and she's missed posting in only one month since then. When you visit, you'll see that she doesn't avoid tough issues that some presidents would rather not talk about in public.

Curiosity made me search for "marketing" on the blog site. That turned up one reference to a May 8 entry about a marketing campaign in support of a new Nursing program.

Comments direct to the blog are not accepted, but there's a convenient form to send a response to the president. The form includes a place to give permission to include your comments in upcoming blog entries and a note that the president responds to responses as often as weekly.

President Maguire blogs at http://www.trinitydc.edu/offices/president/blog/

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This is your chance to get in on the proverbial ground floor with a new presidential blog.

Jack Calareso is starting to blog on "issues of the day" and "Readers will have an opportunity to provide feedback directly to President Calareso." If you visit now, you can leave your name and email address to track this blog right from the start. The blog starts on September 1.

Ohio Dominican creates memories of a very early consulting task way back in the 1980s with the Council of Independent Colleges. The issue then was whether or not to start Allied Health Programs to boost sagging enrollment. All these years later, curiosity made me check the roster of majors. No Allied Health programs.

President Calareso is about to blog at http://www.ohiodominican.edu/about/president/subscribeblog/default.aspx

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Quest University won't enroll a first class of students until the fall of 2007, but the president of this private university in British Columbia is already making his mark in the advance marketing effort for the school.

In the first entry, the new president imagines how Quest University students will  become involved in future incidents similar to a recent oil spill along the British Columbia coast. And he adds that the first students "can’t come soon enough for all of us working together on this incredible project."

David Strangway blogs at http://strangway.blogspot.com/

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The first Canadian college in our collection of presidents who blog is Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Jeff Zabudsky's blog started in September 2005 at "the largest and most comprehensive institute of applied learning in Manitoba" with "32,000 full and part-time enrolments each year."

There's a very obvious link to the blog from the President's Message page and many of the postings generate comments from readers on topics ranging from the growth in international students to the provincial budget for the college.

Read the blog at http://connectrrc.net/president

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Arizona State is embarked on a program to be "A New American University" that will "redefine higher education in terms of excellence, inclusiveness and impact" and much of the discussion here (many comments on some posts) revolves around that goal.

The blog has been online since December 2005. Competitors will get good insight into the strategic direction planned for ASU if they review what's here.

A special touch... communication from the president's office includes podcast interviews with various ASU people and visitors to the campus about a wide variety of initiatves and accomplishments.

Michael Crow blogs at http://www.michaelcrow.net/

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The first entry from a two-year college is at Wenatchee Valley College in Washington, so that makes two presidential blogs for that state. The blog has been up since August of 2005.

Jim Richardson blogs at http://wvcpresident.blogspot.com/

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Dick Celeste blogs at http://www.coloradocollege.edu/welcome/presidentsoffice/blog/

Be sure to scroll down the postings until you find "Facebook Friends"... the president reports he was an early adopter, but adds that now more Colorado College people participate than the college has students... the result of alumni who keep their .edu addresses.

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