Q. Why did Rosemont decide to do this study?

A. Our decision to do the branding study was a critical component of our operational plan following a massive and historic strategic planning process. Our motto for the planning was "Rethink. Everything." and we did! Our final plan, which was unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees in May 2008, does nothing less than what one trustee called the "refounding" of Rosemont College. We are going fully online for all of our Graduate and Professional studies degrees (three degrees are already launched), we are seeking more and deeper partnerships with other institutions and we are becoming co-educational in the traditional undergraduate college. We are changing so much that the need to re-think our brand, as part of the very first year of going operational on this plan, was imperative.

Q. As Rosemont begins the Fall 2009 academic year, male students will be admitted for the first time to the undergraduate college. How is the campus community preparing for males on campus?

A. In order to change so much, and well, in such a short period of time, we constructed a major operational plan, as mentioned before; this included two different task forces charged to plan everything we felt we needed to do in order to welcome men into the undergraduate college for Fall 2009. Because Rosemont has been co-educational in its other two schools (Graduate and Professional Studies) since their inception, we did not have to re-do everything (we already have men's Rosemont rings, for example). But the task forces recommended lots of accommodations for the first class of traditional-age, mostly residential males, from adding three men's sports in the first year (with others added in subsequent years) to re-writing the student handbook in gender-neutral language. This summer we are renovating the gym by adding a men's locker room and repainting the basketball court with women's and men's lines and even debuting a brand new mascot!

Q. What information did the research provide for marketing to male students moving forward?

A. It was good to see that in most cases, our prospective male students were looking for the same things in an institution: small class sizes, close relationships with faculty and liberal arts majors. That was comforting because what we felt made our strategic plan especially strong, and doable, was that we were returning to and strengthening our mission based on the primary Cornelian value of an individual education.

Q. Do you recall anything surprising to you that was revealed by the research? If so, what?

A.  One result that surprised many was that while most of our survey respondents were clearly attracted to many of the special aspects of our "individual education" that Rosemont offers, and does particularly well because of our focus on the student and our relatively small size, those same respondents did not like the word "small"! I was in fact not surprised because I had read similar findings from a market survey conducted over twelve years ago, so I guess some things don't change that quickly!

The best surprise was that our final branding message was so greatly shared by all who took part in the study. We were thrilled to know that our prospective students were indeed looking for the kind of individual academic mentoring that we provide, that our current students are convinced that that is what we do well already, that our alumni remember that mentoring when they think of what made Rosemont so special to them and that our faculty and staff agree that they like being at an institution where academic mentoring is important and embraced. We were aware that for other institutions this shared vision is sometimes not the case, so knowing that we were all in agreement and enthusiastic about it was a good surprise.

Q. How do you plan to use and apply the findings of this study? What is next for Rosemont?

 A. We are already using the results! We had our design team (our own in-house designer working with North Charles Street Design Organization of Baltimore, MD) meet with the SimpsonScarborough group on the day they came to campus with our study results. Next for Rosemont is a wholly new marketing campaign, a new "look" for our admissions publications and, I  know, a refounded Rosemont College!