Cindy Hicks serves at the SSC Communications III Specialist. She creates
contacts and pitches stories to international, national, state, regional, and local
news outlets for the ISU Seed Science Center, assists Global Programs
manager in developing and implementing educational programs for seed
industry professionals in Africa and Asia. Assists in planning educational
programs locally, nationally, and internationally. Creates online platforms for
education programs funded by grants. Writes press releases and media alerts
for Center. Plans and executes media campaigns. Acts as a contact person for
media inquiries. Writes Center marketing and recruiting materials and
newsletters. Manages all social media and the webpage for the SSC. She also
attend conferences an workshops to represent the SSC on a professional level
and to promote our programs. Her accomplishments include implementing a marketing plan for the SSC
produced film Seeds! Diversity of Wonder which has now been viewed in 89
countries and all 50 states. The film was chosen for viewing at the
Environmental Film Festival in Washington D.C. The plan included
submitting nominations to several awards, winning a Gold Award and The
Outstanding Professional Skill award from the Association of
Communication Excellence and a Circle of Excellence, Gold Award from the
Council for Advancement and Support of Education first place award in the
Marketing and Communications Video category from the Ag Communicators
Network, and bronze and silver Telly awards. She worked to double the
number of social media followers showing a yearly increase since 2018. She
planned a seed symposium which attracted over 200 participants.
Hicks performed a research project to determine what motivates our STB
students to enroll which will help the administrators of the program to be
more targeted with their marketing. She also organized a project called “Plant
a Seed, Grow a Butterfly” during COVID to help science teachers educate
kids on how to grow milk weed in order to help the Monarch Butterfly
population. Over 5000 kits were distributed to Iowa school kids. The
program has now spread to schools and 4H programs all over the country.