By Public Relations
HBCUConnect.com, the largest website dedicated to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), conducted an on-line voting contest that asked “Which HBCU Has the Best Homecoming?” After the votes were tallied, Fayetteville State University (FSU) was the runaway winner.
Voting began on August 31, 2012, via HBCU Connect’s weekly newsletter, Facebook (69,000 followers), and Twitter (20,000 followers). Out of the 13,000 HBCU alumni who voted, FSU won with more than 75 percent of the votes.
“This is the largest window of victory we have seen during our contest and quite surprising because of the margin of victory,” said Reginald Culpepper, Director of Media Services for HBCU Connect. “The next closest school was North Carolina A&T University, followed by Elizabeth City State University, so kudos to the fans, students and alumni of FSU.”
FSU Chancellor James Anderson said this recognition is a clear indication how FSU alumni feel about their alma mater and the tremendous academic and social experiences they encountered while at the institution.
“FSU alumni have an enormous amount of pride and love for this university,” Anderson said. “Their participation in and support of this contest was their way of showing the entire HBCU community how they feel about their beloved campus and how much they appreciate what was done for them during their matriculation here.”
Winning the contest provides great exposure for FSU, especially in the area of student recruitment. HBCU Connect staff members will attend FSU homecoming events and take photographs, record video footage, pass out T-shirts, and distribute copies of its magazine. The video and photos gathered at FSU will be posted to HBCU Connect’s website and Facebook and Twitter pages. A cash prize will also be awarded to one lucky FSU student during the homecoming game.
“We not only have students and alumni on our site, but we also have high school students on our site,” Culpepper said. “The exposure would be a big boon for FSU when those seeking information about HBCUs come to our site. We typically average around 150 new high school signups a week.”
HBCU CONNECT was founded in 1999 by Hampton University graduate William Roger Moss III, who connected with fellow HBCU graduate and entrepreneur E. Shawn Starks to create the first African American targeted social network launched as “hbcu-central.com”. Back then, there were no social networks around with member profiles for college students or graduates so the founders set out on a mission to serve this audience.
Additionally, HBCU Connect focuses on serving the needs of its audience by providing a platform for networking, professional opportunities, educational opportunities and connections with the savvy organizations that are looking to hire from or brand themselves with the HBCU community.
FSU is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina and the second-oldest public institution of higher education in the state. FSU offers nearly 60 degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. With nearly 6,000 students, Fayetteville State University is among the most diverse institutions in the nation.
FSU kicks off Homecoming Week October 22-27. For a complete list of homecoming events, go to
www.uncfsu.edu/homecoming. For more information, call (910) 672-1474 or jwomble@uncfsu.edu.
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2012 at 11:22 am and is filed under Latest News, Press Releases.
Posted By: How May I Help You NC
Thursday, October 25th 2012 at 1:31PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
