Michelle Cwach looking to elevate the USD brand
The new director of marketing communications and university relations is looking to make an impact at on campus.
Michelle Cwach, director of marketing communications and university relations and former editor-in-chief of The Volante, was hired for her new position at USD in July and is looking to elevate USD’s brand.
Dream Job
Cwach is an alumna of USD and a Vermillion native. She attended USD from 2005 to 2009 where she obtained degrees in journalism and English with an emphasis in print journalism.
Cwach said that she was heavily involved on campus.
“I had a really fantastic USD experience,” Cwach said. “I was editor-in-chief of The Volante, I was one of the founding members of Cross Media Council, I was a Kappa Alpha Theta, I was in Dance Marathon… The Dakota Days committee so (I) was really active as a Coyote on campus.”
She then attended graduate school soon after graduating at USD where she obtained her degree in communications at Iowa State University. She later got married and her husband, who is a native of Yankton and a sixth-generation farmer, moved back to Yankton to take over the family farm.
During that time, Cwach held jobs as a marketing associate for an international heavy equipment manufacturer and then as a media relations manager.
Five years later she was at USD working as a web editor where she managed the USD website and the social media accounts. It was two years later Tena Haraldson retired and Cwach applied for the job.
“It’s been a really fun, crazy ride. I manage a staff of (15) so that’s been a new experience for me (and) we just have an amazing marketing team,” Cwach said.
Cwach said that trying to incorporate video in order to reach prospective students, engage alumni and retaining current students is important.
“I think one thing that we’re really trying to do is increase our storytelling abilities,” Cwach said. “I think that’s really important in marketing and communications. One thing that we’re trying to do is increase our storytelling through video.”
Cwach said that the marketing department is also working “in-house” and not relying on an outside agency.
Watching USD’s brand is something that Cwach said she enjoys.
“It’s been really fun to see the brand take off,” she said. “For me being an alum and seeing the excitement and the passion growing from the brand from when I was in school 10 years ago it’s just a whole different university.”
Cwach said the story of USD is really the students’ stories.
“I think we have so many talented students. We are a smaller university but we do have the resources of a big-time university,” Cwach said. “Some of the things that we’re doing with research, things with the discovery district I think are really cutting edge… we are building students to be successful with the foundation of a liberal arts education.”
Cwach said that when she graduated from USD this was the job that she hoped to have.
“USD has always felt like home to me and even when I came back to South Dakota I was a very engaged alum and it meant a lot to me to be able to attend USD events, and now to be a part of leading that charge in growing the brand not only just in South Dakota but in the surrounding states and across the nation,” Cwach said. “It’s been a dream job for me.”
Student Perspective
Josh Sorbe, junior political science and economics double major and SGA president said that he works with Cwach from time to time.
“I would say we have a relationship with Michelle like we have with some other administrators outside of student services, more advisory,” Sorbe said. “Whereas if we have recommendations on communications strategy that we think the communications department should undergo, we can make recommendations.”
Sorbe said he has worked with Cwach and said she is doing well.
“So far she’s done a really good job,” Sorbe said. “I sit on the inauguration committee with her for president Gestrings inauguration in February and we’ve talked informally and formally about just the plans that she has for the inauguration I’m really excited to see. She’s very innovative.”
Sorbe said that he has noticed USD taking on more video elements on campus.
“In the past year, I’ve noticed USD doing a lot more live streaming of university events. We live streamed the announcement of President Gestring as our 18th president, we live streamed the state of the university address,” Sorbe said. “I definitely see that as a way for people that aren’t on campus or don’t have access to campus easily to still be able to engage in the USD community.”
Zbynek Surovec, junior media and journalism major and a student intern for USD marketing, said he has known Cwach for awhile.
“Michelle has been around since I came to USD. She actually was overlooking the video production and photos for USD so that was pretty easy because I was working with her the whole time,” Surovec said.
Surovec said that Cwach saw what he could achieve and helped him obtain his goals.
“We’ve known each other for a long time and I think she was always the one that could always see what I could do for the school and video production,” Surovec said. “We work on a very personal level in the whole marketing (department) in general.”
