Building a university traditions programme for the 21st century

Today's university students use social media and technology as much as, if not more than, face-to-face communication for networking and involvement on campus. Universities must not only recognise this, but learn to use the digital media available in innovative ways; namely, for promoting campus traditions and rituals. University traditions are brand assets that can be used to form the university image, helping to distinguish its students and alumni from other academic institutions. Many universities have traditions programmes that inform the university community of traditions, events, and other affinity-building activities and how to take part in each. A majority of these programmes, however, are not measured and are difficult to manage. Ithaca College, a small liberal arts school in Upstate New York, took their traditions programme one step further with a digitalfirst approach. This paper presents the authors' experience in launching a digital traditions programme - a social media initiative using a gamified smartphone application - built to enhance the student experience. Qualitative data gathered from programme participants indicate that student participation in traditions can affect engagement, retention and connection.