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Help us promote student achievements

Help us promote student achievements

10/22/2024

SUNY Cortland wants the world to know all the great things the university’s students are accomplishing. To do that, we need your help. 

This year, we are once again offering students an opportunity to share and promote their SUNY Cortland achievements through our Merit Pages service while helping them build a professional online profile. 

Here’s how it works: unless students ask to be excluded, personalized news items for achievements such as making Dean’s List will be created and sent to involved students, their hometown media outlets, their high schools and their local elected representatives. 

Last year, 5,126 individual students — more than half of SUNY Cortland’s student population — were recognized for 20 achievements ranging from the SUNYAC Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll to participation in a campus art show or play.  

It led to 64,750 page views during this period across social media, including sites like LinkedIn. Just as important, there are 928 media outlets in 34 states as far as Alaska that received updates from us leading to at least 4,640 press releases highlighting Cortland’s students. 

With a little assistance, we now hope to recognize even more. All faculty members are strongly encouraged to share student achievements with the Communications Office for consideration as Merit posts. 

Every participating student has a profile on Cortland’s Merit website that is updated to include achievements publicized through Merit. We encourage students to personalize their profiles in order to build a solid foundation for creating professional profiles on Handshake or LinkedIn 

This little bit of extra work can mean a big boost for their careers after graduation. 

We are relatively new to Merit, so some of our student profiles are sparse. To see what it could look like if more students took an active role in their profile, check out similar pages for St. Lawrence University or Colgate University. 

All students are automatically enrolled unless they request otherwise. To be excluded, please send an email message to SUNY Cortland Communications Director Frederic Pierce. Learn more about Merit here.