Presidential Announcement: News and social media coverage

By . Published on December 16, 2011

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Below is a summary of coverage of the election of Clayton Spencer by news media, social media and the Bates website.

Bates Trustee Chair Mike Bonney ’80, at left, shares a laugh with President-elect Clayton Spencer during her introduction to the campus on Dec. 4.

News Media

The New York Times

Lewiston Sun Journal

The Associated Press

The AP story was also picked up by Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN); WLBZ-TV Channel 2 (NBC-Bangor); WCSH-TV Channel 6 (NBC-Portland); WMTW-TV Channel 8 (ABC-Portland), the Bangor Daily News, Kennebec Journal, Mainebiz, Morning Sentinel and Portland Press Herald.

The Harvard Crimson

Harvard Magazine

Chronicle of Higher Education

Inside Higher Education

Nora Talks Bates (blog)

  • The new President-elect
    Nora Brouder ’12 explains that Spencer was “just another mom in the parental sphere of my younger life.”

Social Media

Facebook

Below, a few of the Bates Facebook and Alumni Facebook comments about the election of Clayton Spencer as the eighth president of Bates College:

Twitter

Here’s a sample of Twitter comments:

From a Bates student: Clayton Spencer, new #batesprez, has quite the resume. Honored to welcome our newest Batesie!

From Williams College: Congrats to our own A. Clayton Spencer ’77, who leaves @Harvard to become 8th president of @Bates in July.

From a higher education observer in St. Louis: “To my mind,” the occasional twang in these videos of Clayton Spencer, new #batesprez, is a nice touch.

From a Bates Alumnus: “Bates College has new president via @BostonDotCom.

From a Bates alumna: “We can no longer, in our society, equate wealth with excellence in higher education.” A soundbite from #BatesPrez.

Webcast and Website

During the webcast of the presidential announcement, Carine Warsawski ’07 posted a status update on Facebook: “Watching live from a Starbucks in D.C. Way to go with the technology, Bates!”

Co-produced by Bates Communications and Information and Library Services, the announcement webcast attracted 1,098 unique viewers in 17 countries. People watched on various devices and operating systems (Android, BlackBerry, iOs), including 129 iPads.

The day of the announcement, Dec. 4, drew approximately 40 percent more visitors than usual to the Bates website (16,880 vs. an average daily total of 12,000).

Viewers watched the webcast from 41 states:

Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
D.C.
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming		 1
3
2
35
6
48
2
17
12
14
14
1
1
1
196
12
140
9
3
4
1
1
1
10
13
1
110
14
7
1
17
9
5
2
10
8
16
9
1
1

Viewers watched the webcast from 17 countries:

Burundi
Canada
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
India
Israel
Japan
Malaysia
Netherlands
Peru
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States

Multimedia

Six days prior to the campus announcement, Bates Communications staffers traveled to Harvard to interview, video and photograph Clayton Spencer. The session yielded 11 video segments about her life, work and vision that attracted 6,668 plays.

  • Diversity and Excellence: 1,686 plays
  • Why Bates?: 1,153
  • Educating the Whole Person: 724
  • Bates as an Educational Leader: 489
  • The Liberal Arts: 471
  • Peter Gomes ’65: 453
  • Kennedy and Washington, D.C.: 379
  • Higher Education as the Family Business: 345
  • My Intellectual Awakening: 331
  • Leadership: 323
  • Access and Affordability: 314
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