The University Calendar is the central hub for public event listings at NC State. Students, faculty and staff can submit event listings to the calendar through the public submission form. Localist, a private software developer, powers the calendar platform, and University Communications and Marketing manages the calendar. The UCOMM calendar editor and designated event administrators across campus review calendar submissions before they are published.
Event listings must meet the calendar's submission guidelines. UCOMM reserves the right to edit calendar submissions and reject submissions that don't adhere to our guidelines. We ensure calendar submissions meet Associated Press writing standards and adhere to the university's editorial style guidelines.
Events submitted to the calendar must have a university sponsor (e.g., college, department, program, division, office, center, institute, club) and be open to members of our campus community and the public. Here are a few examples of the kinds of events you can submit:
In most cases, invitation-only events or events for which attendees are limited to exclusive groups — such as members of particular clubs or departments — will only be accepted if you use a calendar widget that publishes the event to your website rather than to the central calendar. Such events are inappropriate for the University Calendar, which seeks to promote events to a universitywide audience. The use of a calendar widget can allow these types of events to only appear on your website.
Classes, save-the-date announcements and application, submission and registration deadlines are also not accepted for publication on the calendar, unless you use the calendar widget to publish the event to your website rather than to the central calendar.
UCOMM provides calendar blocks that display brief summaries of calendar event listings on college, department and unit websites. We encourage campus partners to use these blocks or a Localist-provided calendar widget, which provides similar functionality. To build a Localist widget, go to the widget page. If you prefer to use the UCOMM-provided calendar blocks on your site, send an email to university-calendar@ncsu.edu.
NC State campus communicators who have calendar responsibilities can also become event administrators for their units. Event administrators serve as calendar editors and can submit, edit and manage event listings for their units. A communicator who wants to become an administrator must attend a short training session and follow the calendar's submission and publication guidelines.
The main University Calendar landing page always presents a featured event at the top of the page in a large clickable box with a large-format photograph. The calendar editor selects and updates the calendar's featured events on an ongoing basis.
Event listings must include the following elements: a description, a location (if in person), a date, a time, and a name and contact information for an event coordinator who can be contacted with any accommodation requests under the Americans With Disabilities Act. If your event requires attendees to register, you must provide a registration link when you submit the event. Virtual events must include a registration form or the link guests will use to access the event when you submit your event. If guests must purchase tickets to attend an event, you must provide the link they will use to do so when you submit your event. If your calendar submission is missing any of this information, the publication of your event listing might be delayed, or the calendar editor may reject your submission.
Event descriptions should be written in sentence form and should not exceed 250 words. The calendar editor or an event administrator may shorten event descriptions that exceed this limit.
Event names are limited to 65 characters. If you see that ellipses follow your event’s name after you submit it, the name is too long. When this happens, edit the name of your event and resubmit it. If you submit an event and the name is too long, the calendar editor or an event administrator may shorten the name for you or ask you to submit a shorter name.
Submit your event listing at least 10 days before the event.
All published calendar items will include a photograph. You can submit a photo with your submission, but don't submit a photo unless you have permission to use it. You also can select a photo from the calendar's photo library or from NC State Photos, a free photo library that anyone with a Unity ID can use for university-related purposes. If you don't include a photo with your calendar submission, the calendar editor will select a photo for you, or the calendar's photo fallback system will automatically assign an NC State photo to your event listing.
For photos that accompany event listings, the calendar doesn't publish posters, flyers or picture files that include text that is meant to convey event-specific details. The calendar editor may make exceptions for assets created by UCOMM for special university events.
Photos should be at least 940 x 557 pixels in size. The calendar editor may remove poor-quality photos from your event listing.
If an event sells out or is canceled or postponed, you should update the calendar listing for that event. Do not delete canceled, postponed or sold-out events from the calendar.
Event administrators can update a calendar listing for an event that has sold out or has been canceled or postponed by going to the Admin Dashboard, searching for that event and then selecting "Canceled," "Postponed" or "Sold Out" under the "Status" field. After you do this, click "Save Changes" to publish the event.
If you submitted a canceled, postponed or sold-out event to the calendar but you are not an event administrator, go to the calendar, log in, click the arrow next to the wolf at the top of the page, select "Dashboard" and then scroll down until you see the events you have submitted. Click the event you’re looking for, scroll down until you see the "Edit Event" link, and click it. Change the "Status" of your event to "Canceled," "Postponed" or "Sold Out," and click "Save Event."
Do not submit an abstract as your event description or as a part of your event description. You can link to an abstract and/or provide a short summary of an abstract.