Best of CASE District IV Award
 

Institution: University of Texas at San Antonio

Title of entry: Sombrilla Magazine - "The Roadrunner's Guide to the Galaxy"

About this entry: UTSA was established in 1969 to serve South Texas with a special emphasis on providing access to higher education to the Hispanic community. While emphasis on student success is paramount, in recent years there has been a rise in research prominence with a Carnegie R1 designation. As an institutional magazine (not solely an alumni magazine), Sombrilla Magazine is charged with the challenge of telling stories that cover it all--research, alumni profiles, campus happenings, etc.--with an urgency to engage readers beyond alumni to new stakeholders such as research partners, city and state policymakers, and community leaders. In 2023 we conducted a “listening tour” of our readers, and what emerged from those discussions is a clear editorial direction that we need to make the world-class research that the university is doing accessible to the broad readership of the magazine.

This new storytelling strategy gave us the inspiration to get innovative with our storytelling. As an institutional magazine (not solely an alumni magazine), we knew we needed a big cover story that showcased our research relevance on a national and international stage—and we found it. The university’s space research reaches across disciplines and had just the wow-factor that we needed. With the publication of “The Roadrunner’s Guide to the Galaxy” cover story, we were able to leverage that to gain credibility as a major research player in Texas and achieve new opportunities for funding.