Circles of Excellence

UIC Circles of Excellence serves our nearly 200 marketing and communications partners across campus. Spearheaded by UIC Strategic Marketing and Communications, Circles of Excellence is an opportunity to go deeper in curated sessions about communications, storytelling, brand, creative and digital marketing and engagement with team experts.

As a complement to and extension of Weekly Communicators Circle, where lead communicators and marketers across campus engage with Strategic Marketing and Communications every Wednesday afternoon, Circles of Excellence aims to align communications and equip every communicator with a toolbox of best practices, resources and support to inform, inspire and engage all audiences for the elevation of UIC.

Through a series of dedicated sessions — both in person and virtual — participants will find:

• Engaging presentations: Learn from experts and thought leaders in various fields who will share their insights and experiences.
• In-depth training sessions: Participate in hands-on training to gain practical skills and knowledge applicable to your role.
• Panel discussions: Join discussions with industry professionals and fellow colleagues to explore current communication trends and best practices.
• Best-practice resources: Access valuable resources you can use in your daily work for better effectiveness and efficiency.

• August 2026: From Fact to Fun: Creating Meaningful Stories 
• November 2026: Maximizing the UIC Brand Refresh 

• May 13, 2026: Ask Us Anything: Social Media Panel Discussion

This session was an opportunity for social media managers across UIC to ask questions on how to manage social channels, capture storytelling, work with students, use social media in crisis communications and much more. UIC panelists with broad, diverse expertise will share advice and insights to help you make the most of social media for your college, school or unit.

• Feb 19, 2026: Measuring What Matters: Turning UIC Web Data into Business Intelligence — Resources

This Circle of Excellence webinar was a practical session on moving beyond vanity metrics to track the business outcomes that matter—from information requests to campus visit bookings. With the uic.edu and Red platform redesigns on the horizon, we offered guidance to establish your measurement baseline and build tracking infrastructure that demonstrates real ROI. Attendees saw real examples from the uic.edu site, learned the seven steps to goal-based analytics and discovered resources to implement conversion tracking for their school’s unique mission.

• Nov. 18, 2025: Words Matter: Writing with Inclusion and Clarity — Resources

This session of Circles of Excellence focused on helping campus communicators create written content that reflects UIC’s mission of access and excellence. In this virtual session, we explored UIC’s Inclusive Language Guide and why it matters, and we offered tips to make your writing more engaging, clear and concise.

• Aug. 7, 2025: Digital Engagement Circle of Excellence — Discover five strategies to increase your email marketing response rates — Resources

In this virtual presentation, we explored five proven strategies to increase response rates in your email marketing and communications. Backed by real-life examples and UIC-specific data, this session highlighted actionable tactics you can start using right away — including A/B testing, audience segmentation, personalized messaging and data-driven decision-making — all within UIC’s official Emma Email Marketing platform.

• April 9, 2025: Social Media Circle of Excellence—Social Strategy Simplified: Hands-On Goal Setting, Content Planning and Measurement Made Easy— Resources

Colleagues from across the university attended a hands-on, in-person workshop led by Strategic Marketing and Communications, learning to create an actionable social media plan. The presenters demonstrated how to identify key content areas that resonate with your audiences, and discussed how to measure your success in meaningful ways. This session provided practical guidance to simplify and clarify your social media strategy.

• Feb. 27, 2025: Digital Platforms Circle of Excellence — From Search to Success: Leveraging AI to Revolutionize UIC’s Online Presence — Resources

Using examples from UIC websites, we demonstrated how these tools can help us better understand our audiences, create more impactful content, and measure our success. The presentation showed how UIC can stay ahead of these changes while maintaining our authentic voice and strengthening our connections with future students and ensuring their success.

• Nov. 19, 2024: Media Relations Circle of Excellence — An Introduction to The Conversation — Resources

An overview of The Conversation, a platform that connects academics with the public through articles written for a general audience. Participants learned how to use The Conversation to increase research visibility, contribute to vital public discussions and more. As part of this presentation, a representative from The Conversation joined to discuss their processes, answer questions and give tailored advice.

We encourage communicators and team members responsible for communications and marketing in all areas to join Circles of Excellence. Your involvement is crucial to foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement at UIC. For inquiries or further information, please reach out to smcs@uic.edu.