This map shows where articles written by CSU researchers for The Conversation have reached readers — nearly 800,000 around the globe. Courtesy The Conversation
With support from the Provost’s office and the Vice President for Research, Colorado State University became a partner institution with The Conversation in June 2016. We were eager to present this new publication opportunity to faculty members doing the type of innovative research that has been CSU’s hallmark for nearly a century and a half: authentic, pragmatic, and engaged with the most important issues of the day. In short, CSU is a perfect fit with the evidence-based, research-driven information The Conversation is dedicated to introducing into public discourse in the age of “alternative facts.”
Our goals in participating in The Conversation are three-fold.
1. Provide a platform for faculty to distribute their research to a worldwide audience. They can build their reputation as thought leaders in their fields of expertise, opening up additional opportunities for collaboration and further research.
2. Solidify the University’s position as a top-tier research institution. Other contributors to The Conversation include schools such as Harvard, Rutgers, Boston University, Penn State, University of Texas at Austin, Michigan State, University of Washington, Ohio State, Case Western Reserve, and Vanderbilt. This helps not only attract the best and brightest students, but increases the value of the degrees held by CSU alumni – and boosts the famous Ram Pride.
3. Contribute to ambitious solutions to global challenges. Since its founding as the Colorado Agricultural College in 1870, the University has been dedicated to fulfilling its land-grant mission of research with results, using our knowledge for the betterment of humankind. The Conversation puts our researchers and their work in front of an audience of decision-makers in government and industry as well as fellow academics around the world, delivered in an engaging 21st-century style.
And how’s that working out for us? The numbers provided by The Conversation tell the story.
In August 2015, articles by the handful of CSU faculty who had found The Conversation on their own were averaging just over 22,000 reads per day. With University support, that rose to 43,000 in June 2016, 82,833 in November 2016, and 157,000 in March 2017 — approximately doubling every quarter.
Our relationship with The Conversation continues to evolve, as CSU is now part of the AP University advisory council working with Associated Press to identify and develop stories and projects that leverage the strengths of a number of partner institutions to illuminate issues from many angles.
Follow the latest from CSU and other researchers with The Conversation’s daily newsletter – sign up at theconversation.com. And stay tuned for more, as it happens.
Kate Hawthorne Jeracki is the editor and content manager for Internal Communications at CSU, and manager of The Conversation on campus.
Beyond readership
- 794,282 reads of all articles since first publication
- 43 articles published
- 33 authors
- 5 articles retweeted by Associated Press to its 9 million followers
- 288 comments on articles
- 3 invitations to speak at professional conferences as a result of publishing in The Conversation
