The University of Southern Mississippi is a comprehensive doctoral and research-driven university with its main campus in Hattiesburg and satellite campuses along the Gulf Coast. Originally established in 1910, it is emerging as the premier research university of the Gulf South. 

For nearly a century, The University of Southern Mississippi had shown impressive growth —from its humble beginnings as Mississippi Normal College to its current status as a major research extensive university—but recent years had been difficult for the university. Two short-tenured and embattled presidencies in less than a decade had resulted in an unsettled atmosphere on campus, flat enrollment, and a decline in alumni & donor participation. Under the leadership of a new president, university officials seized on the impending 2010 Centennial Anniversary as an opportunity to enrich the brand, reinforce relationships with key publics and celebrate a rich past while focusing on the future.

A decade had gone by since the university’s last strategic planning initiative. With a fervent belief that people will work hardest when following their own hopes and dreams, President Martha Saunders sought the assistance of idgroup consulting + creative of Pensacola, Florida, to engage the campus in Core Dialogues to create inspired action. Eleven Core Dialogue sessions focused the whole university on identifying its greatest assets, capacities, resources and strengths. The dialogues were widely inclusive with more than 300 participants from the faculty, staff, students, alumni and community leaders. Through this process the university uncovered its story. The dialogues also revealed frustration among constituents that “people don’t know just how good we are.” Results were verified through a national survey by Gallup Research that showed that the university, although well-known in its immediate area, held only modest recognition across the country. Additional research measures included Institutional benchmark data, key informant interviews and campus-wide pre-and post-Centennial awareness surveys. The process yielded the following problem statement:

The University of Southern Mississippi houses some of the country’s premier academic, athletic and research programs yet is not highly visible outside its immediate geographic region or even among its own internal audiences.

With an overall goal of increased engagement among key publics through “telling our story,” planning began with ramp-up activities in 2008 and culminated in a year-long centennial celebration in 2010. We set about developing our plan with two key facts in mind: 1) Southern Miss is a highly successful research extensive university with low name recognition and 2) we are disconnected from many of our significant publics. The 100-year anniversary provided a rare opportunity for bringing attention to the university, engaging its community of alumni and reinforcing understanding of the university’s strengths.

The university’s strategic planning committee had defined four overarching goals: increased visibility, stronger connections with community, a stimulated climate for academic success, and a culture of healthy minds, bodies and sustainable campuses. From these broad goals, campaign planners identified the following measurable objectives for the Centennial:

• Create awareness of the history and rich traditions of the university among target audience members by December 2010 as measured by pre-and post-Centennial surveys.
• Increase national media coverage of the university by 20% as of December 2010. 
• Increase website traffic by 20% by December 2010.
• Increase membership in the alumni association to 20,000 by December 2010.
• Generate donations of $1,000,000 for the Centennial Scholarship by December 2010.
• Increase freshman enrollment by 6% from Fall 2007 to Fall 2010.

By the close of the campaign, the university had met or surpassed its goals:

• Awareness of history and rich traditions showed positive change in all categories over pre-Centennial benchmarks.
• National media coverage increased 800% (from 13 national hits in 2007-8 to 122 in 2009-10).
• Alumni Association membership grew to 21,088 (1088 more than 20,000 goal).
• Centennial Scholarship donations totaled $3.9 million December of 2010 ($2.9 million more than $1 million goal).
• Freshmen enrollment increased by 14% (exceeded goal of 6%).

idgroup continues to provide consulting services to the university president and its internal marketing team.

• 1

  Increased visibility

   
• 2

  Stronger connections with the community

   
• 3

  Stimulated climate for academic success

   
• 4

  Create a culture of healthy minds, bodies and sustainable campuses

   

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