Summer session ad grabs top prize at conference

The summer session advertising poster and collector's magnet, both of which featured horses galloping through the desert underneath a star-filled sky, won an award for "public relations image" from the Western Association of Summer Session Administrators, or WASSA.

The group held its annual meeting in September.

"For me, the horses symbolized freedom," said Qubra Coldien, a management information systems sophomore.

Coldien's friend, Rosalinda Koch, agreed with her.

"The horses mean intelligence, strength and freedom," Koch added.

The 1996-97 winter session brochure won a prize for "external marketing," said Karen Dahood, a spokeswoman for the University of Arizona Extended University.

Dahood credited the brochure, which portrayed a pair of skis leaning against a saguaro cactus, with boosting winter session's enrollment by 27 percent over 1995-96.

"Racing Toward 2000," the summer session catalog's theme, is part of a five-year plan designed to reduce marketing costs and attract people, Dahood said.

She said the idea was to create a continuing theme for the next three years,

"The desert symbolizes the heritage and the past, while the horses represent students racing toward the stars.

The stars signify advancements in technology and the unknown," Dahood said.

In the next five years, the catalog's cover art will feature the horses moving closer to the stars, symbolizing the approach to the year 2000.

"The summer session is used by people in the community as a way to come back to school and better prepare themselves for the world. This is part of a theme of technology," Dahood added.

"I liked the design of it (Racing Toward 2000). The background was dark with stars. I thought it was cool," said Angelita Denny, an engineering junior.

WASSA also cited the UA summer session "Excellence in Teaching" awards program, which recognizes summer session instructors who are nominated by students and selected by a panel of judges.