2025-2026
Annual Report
OUR WORK
What if the whole world knew how special Grand Valley is?
The staff at University Communications follows that vision and works daily to enhance Grand Valley’s reputation through effective communications strategies that strengthen the university’s relationships with the diverse communities it serves.
Telling the GVSU Story
University Communications serves as a creative conduit for sharing the passion, progress, people and history that tell the story of Grand Valley State University.
This annual report is designed to “show our work” in qualitative and quantitative ways while demonstrating how our award-winning team of communication professionals serves our community by sharing Laker stories with audiences both broad and targeted.
The report also sets the bar for our team as we seek to improve, refine and adapt to new opportunities and challenges.
As this report will show, the team reached millions of people through creative, passionate storytelling to drive recruitment, improve retention and show how special it is to be a Laker for a Lifetime.
Whether in print via GVMagazine, online in GVNext and Forum, visual storytelling with video and photography, at Lubbers Stadium for a home football game, or on one of our many social media channels, UComm’s team of talented professionals embraced the GVSU mission of empowering learners in their pursuits, professions and purpose.
UComm is also dedicated to bringing our diverse GVSU communications community closer together through its leadership of the University Communicator Network. In its third year, the UCN continued to provide professional development and networking opportunities that fostered learning and relationships among more than 250 talented professionals.
UComm will continue to meet the challenge of achieving the goals of Reach Higher Together, showing and telling the stories of the thousands of Lakers — past, present and future — who are turning "What If" into "What Is" in their communities and around the world.
Bill Cuppy
Assistant Vice President, University Communications - Creative and Multimedia Services
Chris Knape
Assistant Vice President, University Communications - Media and Public Relations
Our staff members are continual learners and have participated in various professional development opportunities, such as GVSU master's degree programs, local and national conferences, and webinars.
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
UComm plays a central role in the Incident Management Team and works closely with GVSU’s Department of Public Safety to develop emergency communications strategy, safety messaging and GVPD social media.
MEDIA RELATIONS
UComm serves as the primary conduit for interaction with members of the media through proactive outreach and reactive responses, generating earned media coverage, managing crisis and emergency situations, and hosting news conferences and credential management.
UComm provides media training to faculty and staff to help them prepare for interviews and provides talking points to senior leaders to react to current news.
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANCE
UComm assists the Office of the President with speeches, OpEds, podcasting, livestreaming, video production, social media, photography and design services, and other strategic guidance. One highlight was the inclusion of a book featuring the year's top University Communications photographs, selected as a "Philly's Faves" item and sold through the Laker Store.
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING & CONSULTING
In addition to creating content for GVSU’s channels, UComm provides consulting services to the broader GVSU communicator community on social media best practices. The team also continually monitors the broader social media ecosystem for reputational and risk management.
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
UComm employs and provides professional experience and internship opportunities to a team of students, including writers, photographers, videographers, social media interns and social media ambassadors.
OUR SERVICES AND EXPERTISE
CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
UComm plays a central role in the Incident Management Team and works closely with GVSU’s Department of Public Safety to develop emergency communications strategy, safety messaging and GVPD social media.
MEDIA RELATIONS
UComm serves as the primary conduit for interaction with members of the media through proactive outreach and reactive responses, generating earned media coverage, managing crisis and emergency situations, and hosting news conferences and credential management.
UComm provides media training to faculty and staff to help them prepare for interviews and provides talking points to senior leaders to react to current news.
PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANCE
UComm assists the Office of the President with speeches, OpEds, podcasting, livestreaming, video production, social media, photography and design services, and other strategic guidance. One highlight was the inclusion of a book featuring the year's top University Communications photographs, selected as a "Philly's Faves" item and sold through the Laker Store.
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING & CONSULTING
In addition to creating content for GVSU’s channels, UComm provides consulting services to the broader GVSU communicator community on social media best practices. The team also continually monitors the broader social media ecosystem for reputational and risk management.
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
UComm employs and provides professional experience and internship opportunities to a team of students, including writers, photographers, videographers, social media interns and social media ambassadors.
VIDEO PRODUCTION
UComm provides professional video production services to the campus community for events, news conferences, livestreams, podcasts, sports, social media and leadership, such as Enrichment Dinner. UComm also maintains the university’s video archives.
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YOUTUBE CHANNEL |
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4.3 million Views |
624 New Subscribers |
3.7 million Minutes Watched |
PHOTOGRAPHY SERVICES
UComm provides professional photography services to the GVSU community, including event coverage, sports, social media, portraits and news/features. The team also maintains and supports GVSU’s photography archive through a digital asset management system.
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31,228 Total Views |
7,542 Story Views |
23,686 Site Views |
PUBLICATIONS
University Communications produces a variety of publications geared toward distinct audiences within the broader GVSU community.
GVNEXT
The GVSU news website, GVNext, is an external-facing publication presenting regular news reports and features on the people, academics, programs and slices of life at Grand Valley. It is published on gvsu.edu and distributed via email.
Notable: The analytics for this year reflects a significant increase compared to the previous year, due in part to growing web traffic generated by AI-powered search and indexing tools, which can inflate page views and visitor counts across higher education websites.
GRAND VALLEY MAGAZINE
Printed twice a year (with accompanying digital episodes) and targeted toward alumni, donors and the broader community highlighting major news, accomplishments and features about GVSU research, alumni, students and campus developments. Print issues mailed to 74,000; emails sent to 151,000 readers.
THE VALLEY VIEW
UComm curates and produces this internal email newsletter geared toward senior leadership and others, highlighting earned media that includes GVSU and higher education news of note. Distributed to about 250 subscribers.
FORUM
GVSU's faculty-staff newsletter reached more than 18,800 users while maintaining a 60% open rate and increasing content by campus communicators 50% over the previous year.
LINKEDIN NEWSLETTER
A bi-weekly dispatch of the key happenings at GVSU curated to meet the distinctive interests of the highly engaged LinkedIn audience. The newsletter is produced on the LinkedIn platform, shared on the GVSU LinkedIn page and emailed to the more than 28,000 subscribers.
GVSU SOCIAL MEDIA
COMPETITOR COMPARISON
*Competitor university metrics are an comprised of the average performance from the following universities: Central Michigan, Ferris State, Eastern Michigan, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Oakland, Wayne State and Western Michigan.
(Source: Sprout Social)
The inaugural GVSU CommCon was held on June 17 at the DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health, featuring a morning keynote presentation by Imran Mazid, associate professor, and a lunch fireside chat with President Philomena V. Mantella.
The inaugural GVSU CommCon was held on June 17 at the DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health, featuring a morning keynote presentation by Imran Mazid, associate professor, and a lunch fireside chat with President Philomena V. Mantella.
RECOGNITION
Our work has been recognized on campus and nationally.
from the Office of Sustainability Practices
David LeFurge-McLeod, Julianna Schrier
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CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE BRONZE AWARD
Photography: portraits
Office Hours
BEST OF CASE DISTRICT V AWARD
Photography: individual photo
Floating Leaf
CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE BRONZE AWARD
Photography: Individual photograph
Photo With Slinky Prop
CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE AWARD
Photography: Individual photograph
Student Scholars Day
UPAA 2026 ANNUAL PHOTO COMPETITION
Photo essay
Something to Celebrate
UPAA 2026 TOP 10 UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHERS
Kendra Stanley-Mills
8 UPAA MONTHLY AWARDS
2026 MAY MONTHLY IMAGE COMPETITION
Sports Marketing and Illustrations
High Jumper
2026 APRIL MONTHLY IMAGE COMPETITION
News and College Life
Sparks
2026 FEBRUARY MONTHLY IMAGE COMPETITION
General Features
Snowy Eyelashes
2026 NOVEMBER MONTHLY IMAGE COMPETITION
General Features
Goat Connection