Sage Kiernan-Sherrow |  News Editor

Western is now holding weekly live Q&A sessions over Instagram and Twitter to provide support to and connect with both current and future students. The sessions occur from 10 to 11 a.m. on Thursdays and cover everything from financial concerns, to questions about commencement. We reached out to Lisa Catto, the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at Western, to answer some questions about this new resource.

Q: How did the idea for weekly Q&A’s develop and what is its overall purpose?

A: The idea was a joint effort between Strategic Communications and Marketing and the Admissions office. We tried to come up with ways to connect with prospective students since we had to cancel some in-person Admissions events due to COVID-19. The first live Q&A was held on March 26, in lieu of the planned Spring Break Visit event that day. 

Q: What has the outcome been like? Has the project seen a lot of interaction and received positive reactions?

A: The first Q&A was so successful that we decided to broaden the focus to all students and invite more departments to participate in a weekly event. We added several more departments who have representatives on-hand every Thursday at the scheduled time, including Student Engagement, the Student Enrichment Program, Transfer Pathway, the Business Office, and Graduate Programs. The response has been very positive. Students seem to appreciate the opportunity to get a quick response to their questions.The number of questions has ranged from 20 to more than 50 depending on the week, the majority of which coming through the question tool on our Instagram story. 

Q: What topic is most frequently asked about?

A: Most of the questions have been about specifics connected to housing, financial aid, and admissions requirements. The overarching majority of questions have been about housing, things like finding roommates, selecting a room, etc… The second most popular topic has been financial aid and scholarships.

Q: How can Western students get the most out of this resource? 

A: Students can get the most out of this resource by setting an alarm or calendar reminder to head to WOU’s Instagram or Facebook account at the designated time. If someone can’t make it at that time, they could head over to WOU’s Facebook page to find the “event” for the weekly Q&A. In the event description, there’s a link to a form where students can submit their questions in advance and we’ll post the question and answer on the net live Q&A post.

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu