Kevin Agee, content strategist at the Office of University Communications at Missouri State, sits down with Seth Templeman, Parent & Family Programs Family Assistant, to answer the question “Why Missouri State?”.
How did you get to Missouri State? I’m a life-long Springfield resident. I went to Kickapoo High School. I have two degrees at Missouri State, a bachelors in journalism and a masters in professional studies. I’m here because of the athletics program. When I was in elementary school, it seemed like free tickets would appear for many of the athletic events, Lady Bears games in particular, thanks to the late Dr. Mary Jo Wynn. Those games got me on campus, and I fell in love with Missouri State.
What is your job at Missouri State? I’m a Content Strategist at the Office of University Communications. I’m a writer and content creator. Day-to-day operations include running the university’s Twitter and Facebook pages. We manage a team of student interns who run our Instagram. We write news releases, help media members find faculty on campus for their stories, and manage the university content calendar for the home page.
What’s it like handling a Twitter account that represents such a wide body of people? What I tell people is that I never think about “I’m tweeting out something to 60 thousand people”. I’m always talking to one person. It’s a fun experience getting to be the first point of contact for prospective students and families in particular. It’s a big responsibility to be that front door for folks trying to decide where to go to college. I enjoy it, and when I took this job four years ago, that was one of the things that drew me in. A chance to get my hands in the toy box and see what we could do to improve the social media presence at Missouri State.
How many followers have you gained in your time at Missouri State? More than 30,000, which is remarkable. It goes to show how good our team is. We gain around 1,000 net followers a month.
What’s one tweet that you get mentioned in the most? It’s usually about parking and weather but it’s not just that. People enjoy engaging with the account in general. I love seeing people tag themselves in selfies wearing Bear Wear or big accomplishments they’ve had on campus.
When did it become comfortable tweeting from the Missouri State account? The director told me “It’s going to take you about 12 months to get used to the flow”. Even though I had been a student here and involved in organizations, it takes a year to have really seen everything. There is always stuff that throws you for a loop.
What’s your favorite part about your job? The people on this campus. We have great people who care about the university and like to have a lot of fun. I think that’s something that has kept me here. Throughout the course of my life, the people here have been second to none.
Why should students feel comfortable attending Missouri State? They are in a really high level of education but they are not paying for it at the same rate they would a lot of other universities. That fact coupled with the public affairs mission of the university, offers them the ability to see things differently after four years here, and they enter the world so prepared to make things better in their community. That’s really I think what sets the university apart.
What’s your favorite tradition at Missouri State? Fountain Day has become one of my favorites. Bear Fest Village was a huge improvement for the general campus experience of bringing people together. Welcome Weekend because we never get better pictures to use throughout the year than this weekend. The general excitement of the first game for each sport on campus.
(Interview by Seth Templeman – Business Administration Major, Data Analytics Minor | New Student and Family Programs, Family Assistant| SOAR Leader 2018 | Theta Chi Fraternity, Brotherhood & Public Relations Chair 2017-2018)