Meeting fellow higher ed marketers at eduWEB was great. Besides just being nice people in general, they are a bunch of smartypants, I tell you what. One of the best pieces of advice I got was to be a human in social media, not an entity. In other words, hi! I’m James Runkle. The human behind the Oatmeal.
So what am I all about? Yikes, this could get deep, huh? Fortunately, it wont since I’m about as shallow as they come. But seriously, I come from a background of corporate marketing – then moved into academic admissions marketing for a university – and now am part of a boutique marketing agency serving higher ed clients.

My point? I’ve been on both sides of the table and I know where the pain points are – both from a client side and an agency side. Higher ed has been great to me, personally, and it’s a fantastic industry to work in, professionally, so Academic Oatmeal is like a labor of love.

A labor that is undergoing some significant changes, too. Giving advice means getting advice. And that’s a great thing. It’s all about sharing – ideas, thoughts, hopes, frustrations – and we’re going to feature it all here. The good, the bad and the ugly. (Hey, that’s a nice phrase, I should trademark that.)

So follow me on Twitter @jrunkle and keep checking back here for changes and improvements. See you all soon!

Nice to meet you.

PS
I’m a Gemini and enjoy long walks on the beach. Turn offs include rainy weather and cruelty to puppies.