From the Nominator

"As the pandemic entered its second year, it was clear that Stanford Engineering’s 500 staff members needed targeted, intentional communication to drive connection, engagement, and support during an uncertain time. We launched a series of initiatives to do that, which included:   

1. Expanding our annual town halls into monthly sessions led by our dean, which covered must-know updates about the pandemic, as well as special guests and topics from our School of Engineering faculty (such as an amazing presentation on the history of vaccines) and an open Q&A session to close
2. A significant expansion of on our staff spotlights--short, compelling profiles that blended the personal and professional to showcase a diverse range of Stanford Engineering team members. These were shared in our newsletter, featured prominently on our homepage, and shared on our LinkedIn and Instagram
3. The launch of a pop-up newsletter, a quirky and relatable video show that highlights staff members and their activities in an effort to foster a sense of connection and tear down silos
4. The development of an internal-only staff newsletter that gives news and information "you need to know," as well as more fun things like "books to read for winter break""

From the Judges

Really like this effort focused on the internal staff audience of the School of Engineering at Stanford. Love the creation of a Spotify playlist by asking those interviewed on the pop-up newsletter what was their inspirational song. We also appreciated the stats being shared in terms of numbers of participants in the monthly town hall meetings, the newsletters, and the "pop up" newsletter. Very creative effort for an overlooked group during the pandemic--staff.