Leadership competencies on college campuses are changing. Positions like University Presidents are being challenged to explore communication avenues in order to connect countless communities including current students, alumni, faculty, administrators, local community members, and more.
Presidents no longer can only be charismatic in-person on campus, they also need to have digital communication skills and an authentic online presence as a chief campus leader. This comes to a challenge to many, looking at generational gaps, lack of technology training and existing fears around professional boundaries.
But there are more and more presidents joining the conversation online through social media, especially on Twitter.
Formal research and agreed-upon best practices have yet to be published, so showcasing current accounts have been helpful. Sometimes use of social media is ‘sticky’ with actions by leaders by questioned/challenged or celebrated. For example, the Kansas State University President recently was interviewed about why he uses Twitter, specifically to manage a Basketball Coach controversy. Read more about this case (here).
On a persona note, I’m thrilled to announce that I have been approved by my institutional research review board (known as IRB) to study Higher Education Presidents (including community college and four-year institutions) use of social media in their leadership roles. If you are a president reading this and are interested in being included, please click (here) and provide your contact information. This will be a one year study, so stay tuned!!
In preparing for this study, I have found there have been a number of articles exploring this idea, with some very impressive College President Twitter accounts you should follow. I include those articles at the very end of this post.
While I will be highlighting a few of those Presidents, who I am calling “Social Media Rockstars,” I also want to shine a light on two other groups: new(er) presidents to Twitter that will be worth watching and other high users called Digital Influencers.
For a curated list of all Presidents I have located on Twitter, please subscribe to this Twitter list.
While this post is long, I promise it is mostly twitter photos/posts! I have chosen around six accounts under each category, each featured on separate pages of this post (see the bottom of the page, noted as page 1, 2 & 3). When narrowing down these lists I looked at follower counts, amount of engagement, and types of posts.
- Social Media Rockstars are presidents not only with an impressively high amount of Twitter followers, but are very actively and creatively engaged.
- Established Campus Digital Influencers may have less followers than Rockstars are still engaged and producing quality content.
- Rising Accounts have recently joined or have recently became more active on this platform.
Please consider subscribing to these engaged Digital Leaders!
Social Media Rockstars
1. Santa J. Ono
University of Cincinnati President. 32.9k Followers, 28.7k tweets, of those 3.4k are photos and videos. Line up for your autographs now.
Howdy UC. Love from Hamburg Germany. pic.twitter.com/fYD8gMEsQ6
— Santa J. Ono (@PrezOno) July 9, 2014
2. Angel Cabrera
George Mason University President. 11.5k Followers, 16,2k tweets and even has a Vine account!
You know a game has entered the humiliating zone when the TV producer has to scroll down the scoreboard to show who scored each goal
— Ángel Cabrera (@CabreraAngel) July 8, 2014
3. Walter M. Kimbrough
Dillard University President. 9.3k Followers, 11k Tweets and has an awesome username = @HipHopPrez
Teaching my kids about hip hop @essencefest with MC Lyte, Doug E Fresh, Monie Love & David Banner. pic.twitter.com/WlUjP0Ehji
— Walter M. Kimbrough (@HipHopPrez) July 5, 2014
4. Beverly Daniel Tatum
Spelman College President. 8.2k Followers, engaged on Twitter throughout the day.
Getting ready for the Coca-Cola Essence 5k run/walk in New Orleans – a beautiful morning #blackgirlsrun pic.twitter.com/L3ECW0xtbx
— Beverly Daniel Tatum (@BDTSpelman) July 6, 2014
5. E. Gordon G.
President of West Virginia University. 56.1K Followers, includes photos in nearly every post, is a proud grandfather.
I hope everyone has a fantastic Fourth of July. You can bet I am wearing my red, white, and blue! pic.twitter.com/2Rc8DpD4jh
— E. Gordon Gee (@gordongee) July 4, 2014
Established Campus Digital Influencers
1. Renu Khator
University of Houston President. 12.5k Followers, takes selfies and tweets to students.
UH receives national designation as one of nation's top innovation universities (APLU list). Congratulations everyone!
— Renu Khator (@UHpres) July 8, 2014
2. Eric W. Kaler
University of Minnesota President. 7k Followers, lots of campus updates and uses twitter to recognize campus achievements.
https://twitter.com/PrezKaler/status/486926275584335872
3. Marcia G. Welsh
East Stroudsburg University President. 2.9K Followers, genriously re-tweets content and shares engaging photos
“@ESUniversity: Chillin' 4 Charity hit campus today! Stay tuned for the video. pic.twitter.com/24CDMonjBe” And it was shockingly cold!
— PresidentWelsh (@PresidentWelsh) July 9, 2014
4. Joseph I. Castro
California State University, Fresno. 2.9k Followers, follows nearly the same amount of accounts that follows him (which is awesome), consistently promotes campus, as well as local Fresno community.
Team @Fresno_State at LAX tonight preparing for wheels up to Beijing to establish new academic partnerships.
— Joseph I. Castro (@JosephICastro) July 8, 2014
5. Bidy Martin
Amherst College President. 6.4k Followers, responds and retweets, catch her moose sightings (also the schools’ mascot).
@parkerHolcomb Go to the Memorial Union Terrace on the campus and have something to drink while gazing at Lake Mendota
— Biddy Martin (@Biddy_Martin) July 8, 2014
6. Paul LeBlanc
Southern New Hampshire University President. 3.5k followers, doesn’t need to state on his twitter profile bio that he’s a president, Twitter is part of his day… even on vacation.
New calf was born last night here at the villa in Portugal. They let us name her, so she is now officially SNOO. pic.twitter.com/YrGWKncBSA
— Paul LeBlanc (@snhuprez) July 4, 2014
Rising Accounts
From Twitter newbies to accounts on the rise, please consider subscribing to everyone on this list as their presence grows!
1. Tom Jackson Jr.
Brand new Black Hills State University President. Made significant shift to using social media in his new role.
https://twitter.com/tomjackjr/status/486889992262672385
2. Alison Byerly
President of Lafayette College. Only two years on Twitter, engaging campus photos, and re-tweeted newly admitted students photos.
At Yankee Stadium – look forward to returning with thousands of Pards in 146 days! #rivalry150 pic.twitter.com/LsJIE9mVbj
— Alison Byerly (@alisonbyerly) June 30, 2014
3. Dan Martin
Seattle Pacific University President. Took selfies with seniors at graduation, used Twitter to engage with community through campus shooting tragedy.
Our 2nd New Student Advising session is off-and-running! Lots of energy from our incoming students! #falconstrong pic.twitter.com/igxlD6nI4K
— Dan Martin (@SPUPres) June 20, 2014
4. Laurie Joyner
Wittenberg University President. Uses account to celebrate community with shout outs to others, highlighted her ‘pie the president’ event (below).
Got "pied" for @BLOOMAfrica today. Anything for students and the greater good! #TigerUp pic.twitter.com/ary2nTq4ze
— Witt Pres (@WittPres) May 8, 2014
5. David Armstrong
Broward College President. It’s awesome he follows more accounts than he has followers, ongoing campus announcements.
Broward College one of tops for earnings and job placements, new report says. Proud @BrowardCollege https://t.co/q9Xpt0akFH
— David Armstrong (@BrowardCPrez) June 23, 2014
6. Ronnie Nettles
Copiah-Lincoln Community College President. Tweets genuinely about family and his job.
Co-Lin Orientation/Registration for Fall 2014 on the Wesson Campus is scheduled for 7/11/14 @ 9:00 a.m., in the Dow-Young Bld. Welcome!
— Ronnie Nettles (@RonnieNettles) July 9, 2014
These lists were just a few of the many Presidents on Twitter. It was no easy task to narrow the hundreds of accounts. Do you have others you’d suggest? Please share them in the comments below!
For more on Higher Education Presidents on Twitter:
What College Presidents Can Gain From Tweeting
10 college presidents on Twitter who are doing it right
Do College Presidents have to be Active on Twitter?
Commit Connect Engage. College University Presidents Using Twitter
