The agency will offer a variety of services for clients — UofL colleges, schools or departments — in social media, branding, video production, event planning, public relations, digital content, research, advertising and influencer marketing. The Bird’s Nest will charge a modest fee for services negotiated between the agency and the client. All fees will be used to support student initiatives such as supplies, professional development, scholarships, conferences and student work.

Students from any college within UofL can participate in the Bird’s Nest, which began as an idea in 2019 from Karen Freberg, professor in Strategic Communication, and Al Futrell, department chair, both in the Department of Communication, and Joey Wagner, owner of the JWagner Group and chair of the board of advisors for the Bird’s Nest.

“The Bird’s Nest exemplifies the value of a liberal arts education,” said Arts & Sciences Interim Dean David Owen. “While students are discovering new knowledge and understanding inside the classroom, they are also acquiring real-world experience outside the classroom, with the potential to transform lives and society. Further, I am committed to making the Bird’s Nest a campus-wide learning opportunity for the entire UofL student community.”

In addition to Wagner, professionals from businesses around Louisville will form the student agency’s board of advisors. Some of the largest global brands are already represented on board, including Churchill Downs, Onyx + Rose, Starbucks, Brown-Forman, Blitzmetrics, adidas, UofL Athletics and more.

“This is going to be a game changer for not only students enrolled at the University of Louisville, but the entire community,” said Freberg, who is also serving as the director of the agency. “The Bird’s Nest will empower students to gain marketable skills that are aligned with the industry through engaged learning and professional opportunities with the community.”

Hailee Andrews, a senior communications major and director of content for The Bird’s Nest, said the experience has so far been rewarding and “almost surreal to see all of our hard work finally come to life.” 

“I am excited to challenge my creativity and learn from some of the best. The community surrounding The Bird’s Nest is developing into something that is going to help like-minded individuals in our generation reach their greatest potential,” Andrews said. 

Sydney Baker, a communications graduate student and director of strategy, said having the opportunity to gain agency experience and work with real clients will “undeniably contribute to my success as a professional post-graduation.” 

“This will further drive student-success by providing a space for students to be creative and gain meaningful experience in our fields that will help jumpstart our careers. I’m very grateful to Dr. Freberg, the other directors and advisors for all their hard work in creating a solid foundation for The Bird’s Nest. I am so proud of what The Bird’s Nest represents and can’t wait to see what this program brings to our community,” added Zaire Robinson, marketing senior and director of Communication.

“Being a part of The Bird’s Nest has pushed me above and beyond what I thought I could do,” said Jacey Wells, a sophomore communications major and director of outreach. “We are so excited to welcome the University of Louisville community and I can’t wait to see where the future takes us.” 

The Bird’s Nest is launching its services this semester, along with a fundraising campaign  to modernize the physical space (Strickler Hall rooms 107 and 111) that will house the agency.

For more information and inquiries about The Bird’s Nest, contact the leadership team at  birdsnest@louisville.edu. Follow along on social by connecting with The Bird’s Nest on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn at @thebirdsnestlou.

The University of Louisville is one of just 30 colleges across the U.S., and the only in Kentucky, piloting the social media giant’s new platform, along with Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vassar, Duke, University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech and more.

The purpose of the platform is to offer a space where students can interact with peers at their school, including through features like a Campus-only News Feed, Groups, events and group chat rooms. Users, who need a personal Facebook account to participate in the Campus channel, will also have access to a directory where they can find and friend other UofL students. 

“The University of Louisville is so honored that Facebook has given our students the opportunity to be among the first in the nation to use this incredible product. We know they can’t wait to explore and discover all of the ways this tool can help them communicate with their peers. Facebook Campus is the latest innovation that makes our community unique. It is a tremendous asset to Card Nation,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. 

To keep the section exclusively devoted to students, users have to provide their louisville.edu email address and graduation year. They’ll also have to create a new profile specifically for Campus, and will have the option to add/remove their major, classes, hometown and dorm. Once a Campus profile is set up, students can discover groups and events unique to UofL and connect with classmates who share similar interests. When content is shared on Campus, only people in Campus will see it.

In a press release, Facebook noted that the timing of this pilot comes as students face unique challenges this year as they shift to partial or full-time remote learning. 

“It’s more important than ever to find a way to stay connected to college life. College is a time for making new friends, finding people who share similar interests and discovering new opportunities to connect – from clubs to study groups, sports and more,” the company said. “In the early days, Facebook was a college-only network, and now we’re returning to our roots with Facebook Campus to help students make and maintain these relationships, even if they’re away from their college.”

The Class of 2020 was commemorated on their formal commencement date, May 9, with a virtual celebration facilitated through a digital microsite: .

The site includes a bevy of messages to the seniors from a who’s who list of Kentucky dignitaries – , , and Louisville among them. It also includes a few special announcements for the graduates.

Notably, Mayor Fischer proclaimed May 9 as their day, stating: “The Class of 2020 has made our community stronger through the engagement, leadership, service and innovation that are hallmarks of UofL students. They have persevered through a time of unprecedented uncertainty and will continue to make their own unique contributions here and beyond.  To celebrate their achievements, we hereby proclaim May 9, 2020 as UofL Graduates 2020 Day in the city of Louisville.”

Also, UofL announced that the space in the middle of the Belknap Academic Building, Lutz Hall and Shumaker Research Building will be named the “2020 Quad,” with a permanent marker to be installed at a later date. And, Student Government President announced the SGA will commission a mural in the Student Activities Center to commemorate the class.

The microsite is about more than special announcements, however. It also includes messages from deans across campus, , and UofL , as well as a few stories about , virtual performances of “” and the , a and more.

There are also a number of interactive features, such as a that pulls in messages across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook dedicated to the #UofLGrads2020 and a . Users can take a photo with campus’ signature The Thinker statue through an augmented reality feature or create a customizable “Class of 2020” graphic for graduates and share their names via social media.

A number of higher education institutions have held virtual graduation celebrations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have shifted their actual commencement ceremonies online, including readings of graduates’ names and commencement addresses delivered virtually.

Although UofL chose to hold off on its formal ceremony until December, when it’s safe to do so, that didn’t deter the university from making the day special for our graduates. The biggest objective with the commencement microsite was to create engagement – a sort of coming together of the campus and community in support of our graduates to recognize the challenges they have faced and the resiliency they have displayed.

The community certainly responded. On an organic (unpaid) level, the dedicated #UofLGrads2020 hashtag generated more than 1,000 interactions on Instagram on May 9 alone, and a reach to more than 814,000 users thanks to 500 total tweets sent on that day. Collectively, our special commencement stickers on Instagram saw 3,400-plus views. 

On the paid side, our social paid ads drove more than 800 clicks over to the commencement landing page, while paid ads saw more than 800 engagements (reactions, comments, shares, and saves) across Facebook and Instagram. We also added more than 100 pieces of user-generated content to the social media feed on the microsite. 

In addition to engagement, UofL also wanted to showcase its graduates as a signal of solidarity with the global community as we all adapt to cope with the changes the pandemic has wrought.

Indeed, UofL’s virtual graduation celebration is another example of how the university is leading the way in adapting quickly to this unprecedented time. In March, a group of UofL students reached out to Vanity Fair to tout the university’s safe and seamless shift to off-premise operations, as well as its compassion by quickly instating a pass/fail grading system, for example. Provost Beth Boehm was , calling this the “semester with an asterisk.”

That asterisk is applied to commencement as well. 

“I am so proud of our graduates for their commitment and how they responded to this challenge with grit. I am also proud of our entire community for the unity it showed in supporting our graduates as evidenced by the significant levels of engagement on our graduation website. This supports our Cardinal Principle that we are a ‘Community of Care,’ ” Benadpudi said. “We know that a post-COVID world will be one in which there is a much higher reliance on digital platforms and we are working to adapt now, to better meet students where they are and where they will be.” 

Also of note, the microsite subtly introduced new design elements that will be a part of UofL’s refreshed identity. The new brand campaign will lean in heavily to who we are as a university – a community full of vitality and resilience.

“This is perhaps best evidenced now, during the coronavirus crisis, when we have to rely on our collective vitality to get us through these trying times. So, we decided to soft launch our new look and messaging reflective of how the Cardinal Family perseveres in order to make meaningful and lasting impacts,” Benadpudi added.

In her to the spring 2020 graduates, Benadapudi summed up why now was the right time to introduce these elements:

“Through your vitality, through the fact that you’re full of life, you have persevered. You have persisted. You have overcome, and you have succeeded. You are a college graduate.”

The UofL College of Arts and Sciences’ international, diversity and engagement programs office offers the free, public forums with the Yearlings at the civic club’s 4309 W. Broadway location. The series, part of the Signature Partnership Initiative, seeks to bring faculty members and the public together to share expertise, discuss issues and forge common bonds.

• The monthly fall events are:
  Sept. 17: “Fireside Chat and Welcome Reception for UofL President Neeli Bendapudi,” with Kentucky Sen. Gerald Neal as moderator. Bendapudi joined UofL as its 18th president in May. (5:15 p.m. registration and reception; 5:30-7 p.m. Monday program)
• Oct. 21: “Social Media, Fake News and the Impact on Public Opinion.” From “post-truth” politics to “alternative facts” associated with the 2016 presidential election, panelists will discuss deliberately published hoaxes and misleading information that spread through social media to increase the reach, as well as strategies that agencies can take to address this problem. (4-6 p.m.)
• Nov. 18: “Fighting the Demons – From Heroin to the Opioid Epidemic.” Panelists will discuss how rampant abuse of painkillers and heroin, especially in Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky, have communities across the state and region scrambling for ways to deal with the growing addiction epidemic. (4-6 p.m.)
• Dec. 16: Annual holiday reception featuring live music and refreshments. (4-6 p.m.)

The Yearlings Club Inc. includes members from corporate, government and private organizations and promotes civic responsibility, community service and leadership development.

When Brandeis School of Law student Melissa Gibson started her Instagram account three years ago, she was figuring out her own body image.