Submitted by Julie Parker

AHOSKIE – The students, faculty and staff of Roanoke-Chowan Community College have introduced a rebranding initiative for the College, which will soon involve the input of the community. The purpose of the initiative is to revitalize the College’s image and better communicate its identity to students, employees, the community, and the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS).

Monique Mitchell, Dean of Learning Resources Center/Distance Learning/Information Systems and Assistant Dean of Curriculum Programs is assisting with the rebranding initiative.

“R-CCC is an educational institution that provides quality education,” Mitchell said. “We have a new President and we are excited about our new mission, vision, and values statements.  Most of all, we are excited about the College’s goal to provide the students and community access to a ‘world-class’ quality education.

“The College has experienced a lot of change over the years and as we continue to experience change we are embracing it and taking this opportunity to engage in this revitalization project,” Mitchell added.

She explained that rebranding is a marketing strategy aimed at developing a new or enhanced identity of the College. “While rebranding involves much more than the logo, we are beginning with the logo. This small change will lead the College to broader changes, which will expand to College-wide services,” explained Mitchell.

The College’s Printshop and Marketing Specialist, Heather Wilkins, is leading the logo redesign.

“We are developing a new visual representation to show the public who we are,” Wilkins said. “We will maintain our personal spirit, foundation, and history while enhancing our image to reflect the fact that we are a modern institution.”

The overall goals of the rebranding initiative are to (1) provide a visual representation of the College’s new mission, vision, and values; (2) strengthen its image toward a world-class institution of higher education; (3) enhance awareness of the College’s value to the community; and (4) highlight what makes R-CCC unique as compared to the other 57 N.C. community colleges.

A group of students in the Graphics Software class and their instructor, Justin McKeithan, have begun working with Wilkins to design several potential logos. The process began with an activity that generated feedback regarding the feelings, ideas, and images elicited when the students thought about their College. These subjective perceptions will be captured in a variety of new logo designs created by the students and Wilkins. The designs will be presented to the R-CCC Board of Trustees, college employees, students, and the general public for feedback.  After the logos have been narrowed to the top four, they will be presented to the college’s stakeholders, including the general public, for voting.

The rebranding initiative will eventually move into every aspect of visual representation of the College, including the website, all print and electronic materials, as well as the interior and exterior design of buildings and grounds. As the College embraces its new mission, “To provide world-class life-long educational and workforce training in order to meet the emerging needs of the community and to improve the quality of life for the students we serve,” rebranding will also manifest itself in the manner in which College employees carry out services and instruction.