Office of Communications and Marketing Impact Report 2024–2025

Our Mission

As stewards of Harvey Mudd’s message and reputation, we partner with our community to design, develop and share compelling content that advances the College’s mission by increasing visibility, strengthening affinity and driving action. We aim to enhance Harvey Mudd’s visibility and reputation, showcasing the College as an extraordinary institution worthy of being recognized and celebrated within the broader educational landscape.

Visibility and Reputation

Media Outreach

Harvey Mudd College garnered media coverage in 2024–2025 for its innovative pedagogy, academic excellence and highly ranked student experience. Media also featured faculty, staff and student research, accomplishments and expert commentary.
 
Media outreach efforts and faculty, staff and student engagement with reporters contributed to Harvey Mudd’s overall coverage in top outlets including:

  • The New York Times
  • Los Angeles Times
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • NPR
  • Science
  • Smithsonian Magazine
  • Good House Keeping
  • The Conversation

3.77K Media mentions

13.3 billion Potential viewers

Social Media

The Office of Communications and Marketing leads a dynamic, interactive and expanding presence on the College’s social media platforms. We seek to reach new audiences and establish and build relationships with key strategic influencers.

Featured Posts

Eritas Yang ’24 Publishes Paper on Potential Dwarf Planet
Impressions: 31.8k; Reactions: 105; Clicks: 698
Adrianne Baik ’27 Publishes NYT Crossword
Reach: 5,763; Reactions: 348; Engagement rate:  5.11%
Eddie Woo Moody Lecture

Reach: 5,895; Reactions: 66; Engagement rate:  4.12%

Facebook

  • Followers: 11.8k (+1%)
  • Engagements: 36.7k (+1%)
  • Impressions: 436k (-17%)

Instagram

  • Followers: 7.7k (+17%)
  • Engagements: 32.3k (+5%)
  • Impressions: 2.61m (+205%)

LinkedIn

  • Followers: 16.2k (+11%)
  • Engagements: 41.3k (+39%)
  • Impressions: 438k (-5%)

YouTube

  • Followers: 2.62k (+11%)
  • Interactions: 2.75k (-45%)
  • Views: 48k (+7%)

Strengthening Affinity

Engagement with Key Audiences

Mudd Magazine

Mudd Magazine, now produced twice per year, strengthens ties with target audiences of the College by featuring College news and achievements of alumni, students, faculty and staff, with particular emphasis on the societal impact of engineering, science and mathematics. During the last academic year, the summer 2024 issue saw the highest overall engagement, with 982 reads, 2,954 impressions on Issuu and the most web page views at 1,670.

  • 13,000 Print circulation
  • 9,437 Impressions on Issuu
  • 2,663 Web page views
“I just finished reading the Mudd Magazine. Great job! The issue was exceptionally inspirational.”Reader feedback

Parent and Alumni E-newsletters

Monthly e-newsletters to alumni and parents help maintain a lifelong connection to HMC that encourages ongoing engagement, loyalty and contributions. Stories focus on timely and significant campus news and noteworthy information about faculty, staff, students and trustees.

  • 54.7% open rate (Industry average open rate is 35–40%)

Top 5 Alumni News Stories

Top 5 Parent News Stories

Department E-newsletters

Annual academic department e-newsletters connect alumni, parents and friends with faculty, students and fellow alumni. They highlight impressive departmental work, foster a positive connection and encourage alumni engagement with the College.

  • 58% Open rate

Creating Community with Internal Communications

Mudd on the Ground E-newsletter

Produced bi-monthly, the Mudd on the Ground e-newsletter for faculty and staff fosters connection and encourages event participation, relationship-building and idea-sharing. Popular elements include College news, events and human-interest stories, as well as faculty and staff profiles.

  • 42.5% Open rate
  • 79% Find Mudd on the Ground content to be helpful
  • 75% Feel more connected to the HMC community
“I really enjoy [Mudd on the Ground] and think it helps my team and the College community stay connected.”Reader feedback

Mudd Minute

The Mudd Minute, short videos created in-house, are sent monthly from President Harriet B. Nembhard to the campus community and shared via the College’s social channels and website. Stories focus on faculty, staff and student work, research, accomplishments and events.

  • 42.6K Total views across all platforms.
  • 64.65% Average episode completion rate

Most-viewed Episodes

E01 Welcome to the 2024–2025 Academic YearTotal views: 6,657

E09 Innovation Showcase Highlights and ThanksTotal views: 5,045

E11 Commencement and Thanks to All For Your Work this YearTotal views: 5,755

Marketing that Drives Action

Office of Admission and Financial Aid

The Office of Communications and Marketing supports the Office of Admission and Financial Aid in meeting annual enrollment goals while expanding HMC’s reach to specific geographic areas of the U.S.

  • 5,217 Applications (+2%)
  • 12.3% Admit rate

Office of Advancement

The Office of Communications and Marketing partners with advancement to encourage event attendance and achieve engagement and fundraising goals.

The 2025 Pi Day of Giving campaign goal of 628 donors was surpassed, resulting in 783 donors and $421,000 raised.

Supporting the Strategic Plan

The Office of Communications and Marketing produced compelling communications that engaged the community in strategic planning, advanced the College’s STEM for a Better World vision, highlighted collaborative efforts and fostered a culture of shared philanthropic responsibility to sustain HMC’s leadership in higher education.

Community Connections

A series of events, including Community Conversations, Coffee with Cabinet, Tea with the Deans, Cafe Day with DSA and Connection Hour, brought faculty, staff and students together in community, strengthening relationships across the College. The Office of Communications and Marketing supported these efforts and encouraged participation by promoting events with posters, A-frame signs, a dedicated website and online calendar and Mudd on the Ground, the faculty/staff e-newsletter.

  • 9,179 views Community Connections website and calendar

STEM for a Better World

The community-wide strategic planning process culminated in January 2025 when the HMC Board of Trustees approved the College’s Strategic Plan 2025–2035, STEM for a Better World. The Office of Communications and Marketing created a strategic planning website; designed materials to promote early implementation of plan elements, like the Innovation Accelerator and Innovation Showcase; and edited and designed the strategic plan document. A strategic plan timeline highlights the planning process and will track progress as the College develops its vision of STEM for a Better World.

  • 21,663 views of Strategic Plan
  • 152 downloads of the Strategic Plan

Innovation Showcase

Harvey Mudd’s first Innovation Showcase was an opportunity for the College to gather to celebrate its innovative efforts in curricular development and pedagogy, imagine Harvey Mudd’s campus of the future and showcase the work of six teams of faculty and staff who presented Innovation Accelerator proposals to the campus community and key stakeholders. Communications staff supported this milestone event by designing compelling promotional materials, producing videos of each project team promoting their proposal and seven post-event videos, and creating a website featuring innovative work at the College.

  • 15,658 views of Innovation Showcase website
  • 967 views of Innovation Showcase videos

Special Projects

Mudd Merchandise

New Harvey Mudd merchandise has been added to our online store as part of an ongoing effort to expand the product line. We also partnered with Dining Services to host pop-up shops at major campus events this year, helping to increase visibility and engagement with the Harvey Mudd brand.

  • $6,466.23 Raised for the annual fund

Wayfinding Signage and Environmental Graphics

We partnered with the Office of Facilities and Maintenance to develop an updated wayfinding system for all of our campus signage. The new system improves navigation for students, visitors, and staff, while reinforcing a cohesive and welcoming campus identity. We also partnered with various departments to develop eye-catching window and wall graphics. These visual enhancements bring energy to campus spaces and help communicate each department’s distinctiveness and mission.

Thank you to all our community partners from the communications and marketing team!