Merit Celebrates and Publicizes Student Achievement
The University of Alabama uses Merit, an online service for publicizing student achievements, to celebrate the great things our students do – like making the dean’s list, presenting research at a conference, winning a national award, participating in volunteer activities and more. Students receive recognition for their achievements while also creating an online profile – a Merit page – that they can use for jobs, internships and references after graduation. Through the Merit network, students can share news about their accomplishments with their friends and family through Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.
See UA’s Merit page and read what others are doing on campus.
How does it work?
- Students win awards and honors or participate in campus events and activities.
- Strategic Communications gets a list of the students involved and writes a short story about the event or accomplishment.
- A personalized article is published to Merit and sent to the local newspaper(s) of each student involved.
- Students get an e-mail to their UA account with a link to view their story and connect with Facebook or Twitter to share their achievements with friends and family. Parents also receive an email allowing them to share their students’ achievements on their own social media channels.
- Students can customize their Merit pages by adding photos, bios, clubs and work experience.
- Students and their parents may email merit@ua.edu with questions and concerns.
How does Merit benefit students?
Merit creates a positive, institution-verified online identity — a visual resume that showcases a student’s achievements from enrollment through graduation. A Merit page helps people who make decisions about internships, grad school and jobs find all the good stuff about students.
Plus, Merit pages are easy to share with the people who are invested in students’ outcomes and success: family and friends, employers, former teachers, coaches and school counselors, and staff from volunteer organizations and programs.
What else can students do with Merit?
Students don’t have to maintain their Merit page; it is created and updated automatically by the college. Students can, however, enhance and add to their pages if they desire. Merit allows students to customize their Merit page URL, add a profile photo, bio and other activities and work experience. They can even include photos and videos to the activities they add to further demonstrate their involvement.
How do you contribute student achievements?
Communications specialists in UA offices, divisions, departments and colleges may submit stories as well as student names, hometowns and emails to post to Merit pages and distribute to media. Follow this link to find the page where you may submit content: https://ua.meritpages.com/contributions/new. A member of the Strategic Communications staff will review the submissions before distribution. To post to student pages, we will need the students’ campus emails as well as their names and hometowns.
How does Merit enhance the UA Experience?
Merit pages show how UA helps prepare students for a career, and enhances their development as valuable members of society, helpful information attractive to employers. The profiles connect what students do in the classroom to the exceptional career-building opportunities students gain while on campus.
When students and parents share Merit achievements with their social networks, they’re helping tell the story of success at UA. By promoting the fantastic accomplishments of our students in local media and social networks, we not only get to brag about our talented students, but we also can spread the word about the valuable opportunities available on our campus.
How do students claim their page?
- Go to http://ua.meritpages.com/ and search for your name.
- Next to your name, find the option to claim your profile.
- Enter your UA email address and submit the form. Merit will send you a confirmation email.
- Claim your Merit page by clicking on the link in the email you receive.
How do students opt out?
We respect students’ wishes to keep their accomplishments private. Opting out of Merit is easy and not only removes a student’s page from meritpages.com, but also prevents UA or any other participating Merit organization from being able to publish achievements about that student in the future. To opt out, simply reply to the email you receive from Merit and ask to be removed. Or, email your request to merit@ua.edu.