A new standardized email signature adoption campaign for all faculty, staff and administration members at El Camino College was discussed during President Brenda Thames’ virtual town hall meeting on Tuesday, April 26.

This is the second Chat with the President town hall-style meeting of the spring semester after last month’s meeting was canceled due to a last-minute scheduling conflict.

Several community members joined the public meeting hosted by President Thames, where she discussed a variety of different events and items regarding the El Camino College community, including a standardized email signature setting.

The Office of Marketing and Communications created five options to choose from that are currently scheduled to be rolled out by this fall after an awareness and adoption campaign.

“[Marketing and Communications] created a more standardized email signature that includes a few different choices,” Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Ann O’Brien said. “The first [choice] being in recognition of [El Camino College’s] 75th anniversary…there’s options for multiple phone numbers, for instance, there’s an athletics version and they have a different logo, so yeah, there’s options.”

According to O’Brien, the main purpose of the standardized email signature adoption is to elevate the college’s professionalism with both students and business members that they interact with.

A couple of attendees shared concerns over potentially losing aspects of customization through the adoption of new standardized email signatures.

History and American Studies Professor Hong Herrera Thomas said that there is essential information such as counseling links, that she provides in her signature to help students.

“There are bits of information that is very pertinent depending on what job description you have, so I would like to see some options catered to those areas,” Herrera Thomas said.

While Student Services Specialist Ricky Gonzalez recognizes the benefits of adopting a standardized email signature, he wishes to continue to use his signature to express his allyship with the many diverse student groups at El Camino College.

“Sometimes those intersecting identities that students may not know who to talk to about, sometimes that [allyship] signature illustrates to them that this is someone I can talk to,” Gonzalez said. “We also have to remind ourselves that sometimes those logos mean a lot to a student who has nowhere to go or is looking for a community to belong to.”

President Thames said that all of the suggestions she received during her town hall meeting were helpful and she plans to analyze and discuss solutions for certain aspects of signature customization with Marketing and Communications.

The next Chat with the President town hall meeting is currently scheduled for May 26.

Editor’s Note: Fixed redundancy errors on April 28, 2022, at 4:14 a.m.