Alumni Association marketing team picks up 6 awards

Wall space may soon be at a premium in certain parts of Old Main on ASU’s Tempe campus: In September, the marketing and strategic communications department of the ASU Alumni Association picked up five awards in the 2008 American Graphic Design Awards competition for the graphic design of ASU Magazine and key pieces of the association’s marketing campaigns. This achievement came on the heels of the association’s “U Devils” membership campaign for ASU faculty and staff being honored in August by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) with a Silver Medal in the group’s Circle of Excellence awards program.

The department was awarded Certificates of Excellence from the American Graphic Design Awards committee for the design of three stories published in ASU Magazine during 2007: “A View from the Top” (February), “Making the Connection” (May) and “Fueling the Future” (November). The department also received commendations for the design of the association’s alumni membership kit and materials used to promote the organization’s annual Founders’ Day awards dinner.

The American Graphic Design Awards are sponsored by Graphic Design USA magazine. This year, more than 10,000 entries were submitted to the contest; the magazine reports that a “highly selective” 15 percent of the entries were honored with recognition.

The Alumni Association’s U Devils program, an initiative designed to encourage Alumni Association membership among the university’s staff and faculty, garnered the CASE Circle of Excellence Silver Medal in the Alumni Relations Programs category. U Devils has been successful in its first two years of existence, signing up 318 members to date and bringing the grand total of employee members to 608, which represents a 114 percent increase in memberships among ASU employees.

Members of the marketing department who collaborated on the winning entries for both contests include: Robert Cao-Ba, art and creative director; Karen Windsor-Worrel, senior graphic designer; Adeline Lui, marketing manager; Benita Iafrat, Webmaster; and Liz Massey, managing editor of ASU Magazine.

“It is gratifying that our marketing team’s work has been recognized by industry leaders,” Alumni Association President Christine Wilkinson said. “However, it is even more gratifying to know how effectively their efforts spread the word about ASU’s mission as the New American University and the Alumni Association’s mission to unite and serve Sun Devil alumni.”