How to gather Exceptional student/faculty testimonials

Pre-screen students and faculty to find the best stories.
- Choose a universal story that will resonate with the most people.
- What are you trying to market? Research? Supportive faculty? Choose a story that illustrates that.
- Show diversity.
Interview the subject.
- You may want to give them the questions ahead of time.
- Face-to-face interviews are optimal. Phone conversations are next best. Emails are a last resort. You get better responses when there’s conversation. It also allows you to immediately resolve unclear responses or ask follow ups.
- Ask open-ended questions, not yes-or-no questions.
- Get more material than you think you need. You can always re-purpose it.
- Be sure to gather demographic information: name, major, year of intended graduation, title, etc.
Choose the best quote to illustrate your point.
- When you’re using quotes for marketing purposes, it’s OK to string together quotes from different parts of your conversation and clean up grammar. People rarely talk in a linear fashion. You want to be as true to the actual words that the subject used as possible though.

“Not only does UToledo’s engineering program give you field experience that sets you apart from graduates of other schools, but their medical program allows a fast track into medical school. They also offered generous scholarships that helped make me feel welcome even though I was coming from a different state.”
"My time at UToledo has helped me to determine my path in life. Specifically, during my first years at UToledo, while enrolled in one of Dr. Todd Crail’s courses, I came to truly love and appreciate native plants. Since then, I have worked to implement as many native plants as possible into my own gardens."
“'It felt like The University of Toledo was going to support all aspects of my life. Faculty were able to understand that grad school is really important and being a graduate student is a big part of my life, but it’s not everything,' she said. 'I am a person who has many different priorities and responsibilities outside of being a student, and thankfully, my faculty were able to understand that and support me.'"

University Marketing and Communications