The Word from the Bird

The Word from the Bird is a biweekly email newsletter distributed to all current undergraduate students at Johns Hopkins University. The newsletter features information that promotes student success, engagement, and development, including resources, programming, and announcements relevant to an undergraduate student audience.

Faculty and staff who are interested in receiving the newsletter can sign up online to be added to the subscriber list.

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Past Editions

Fall 2024

Spring 2024

Fall 2023

Submitting an Announcement

JHU staff, faculty, and students are encouraged to contribute announcements for consideration via our submission form. Please note that submitting an announcement is not a guarantee that it will appear in an upcoming edition of the newsletter. Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis by Student Affairs staff; barring special circumstances, published announcements will only run once, and we cannot guarantee that a submission will appear in the newsletter on a specific distribution date.

Submit an announcement to the newsletter

Submission guidelines

  • All submissions should promote a resource, program, service, or announcement relevant to undergraduate students at Johns Hopkins University.
  • Submissions must include the name of the sponsoring department or organization, and a point of contact for questions or to request more information.
  • If available, a link to a university webpage that contains more information about the announcement should be included.

Before submitting, make sure your entry is:

  • Between 30-50 words in total length.
  • Proofread and reviewed for accuracy.
  • Submitted at least one week prior to the newsletter distribution date (exceptions will be reviewed by Student Affairs on a case-by-case basis).

The undergraduate newsletter does not accept:

  • Most event listings. See our guide to promoting events for suggestions for where to submit your event listing.
  • Promotion for student organization activities. The Office of Leadership Engagement & Experiential Development (LEED) can help advise on how best to promote your registered student organization’s activities and events through Hopkins Groups; visit their website to learn more.
  • Job postings. Use SMILE, JHU’s University Experiential Learning platform, to promote job opportunities and internships to students.
  • Opportunities to participate in research studies. Those announcements can be submitted to the Hub to appear in their Today’s Announcements newsletter, which is distributed on weekdays.
  • Information aimed at a smaller population of students (e.g., students enrolled in a specific major, or students who belong to a particular student organization). Submissions should be applicable and relevant to a broad audience of undergraduate students.
  • Submissions on behalf of a private entity or corporate sponsor outside of Johns Hopkins University