Five Questions with Mary Cole Pike

Engaging with the entire NC State community presents unique challenges and opportunities for the university’s News Services team, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. They support NC State faculty, staff, students and more by providing timely information in an effective manner. This team includes Mary Cole Pike, issues management lead. We sat down with Pike to discuss her role, how it has changed recently, and how her work impacts the university.

What is your role at NC State, and how has that changed in light of COVID-19?

As the issues management lead within University Communications, I typically work with partners across campus to proactively identify and address communications issues. Sometimes, that might mean helping prepare someone for a media interview or providing messaging around a sensitive topic. 

I continue to do that type of work, but it is now mostly centered on keeping our community updated on important information around COVID-19. My team works closely with Emergency Management and Mission Continuity and other campus partners to ensure we’re communicating accurately and regularly with campus via email, social media and our COVID-19 response website. 

How do you determine what gets elevated to a university-level communication?

A group of campus partners meets virtually throughout the week to discuss university operations and updates. My team and I typically advise that units with highly-specific information continue to communicate with their stakeholders as they would typically. This might mean updating hours or things to know on the unit’s website or working with the unit on a more targeted email communication. If there are high-level decisions that impact broad groups on campus — like a widespread closure or the shift to online classes — those are shared at a university level.

How do you engage with experts from various colleges/units regarding their knowledge of COVID-19, pandemics, how to respond, etc.? How do you connect them with local/national media?

We have a great team in University Communications that is constantly pounding the pavement with local, state and national media. Our team also crafts stories about our experts for NC State’s web properties and the Bulletin. If we see an opportunity for one of our experts to add to the conversation, we reach out to learn more about the person’s comfort and experience with the media, and provide any training they may need to prepare. We may also work directly with someone to write a story for the website that can then be shared with members of the media. While experts do not have to come through our team to engage with the media, we are here to be a resource. 

How do you differentiate messaging that goes to faculty/staff vs. students?

We try to avoid overwhelming inboxes across campus when we can, and that means getting specific with what information we’re sharing with whom. When communicating with any audience on campus, we want to ensure the information is as relevant and timely as possible. All of our broad updates can be found on the COVID-19 site, but students may not need detailed information from human resources, and faculty and staff likely do not need detailed information about on-campus housing. 

As we go forward, in addition to operational updates or changes, our team will continue keeping campus updated on all of the good work that people are doing across the university to help others during COVID-19. People are sharing research expertise, donating supplies and reaching out to help keep the community strong, and I think it’s important to share those great stories, too. 

What advice do you have for others in the university community on how to manage crisis communications/communications on COVID-19?

As I would say with any crisis- or issues-based communications, the first step is to take a deep breath. Take some time to understand what your audiences truly need, and don’t hesitate to reach out to me or others in University Communications for assistance. Managing a crisis or an issue has the tendency to take over your whole schedule — that’s why we’re here to help with things like messaging, media preparation and strategy. These are uncharted waters for all of us, but that doesn’t have to completely change the way we communicate.

If you have any questions about News Services, or questions about university communications surrounding COVID-19, please contact Mary Cole Pike at mcpike@ncsu.edu.