Look to TV to bring DU together.
More than 26 TVs, in fact, scattered throughout campus in spots where students, faculty and staffers meet and mingle. Brand new, flat-screen, wall-mounted monitors of varying sizes, broadcasting news about events, alerts and interesting snippets about the University of Denver.
It’s part of a bold new tactic to improve campus visibility, a way of making sure that the people inside Olin Hall, for example, feel as much a part of DU as people in any other place on campus.
The program is to “create a sense of community,” says Neil Krauss, assistant vice chancellor for business and financial affairs.
The TVs will be scattered throughout campus in various residence halls, dining halls, Driscoll, Penrose, Sturm, Newman Center, Ritchie Center and other locations. In addition to broadcasting information of general interest, the monitors will allow localized information, so viewers in the Ritchie Center, for example, can get a bigger dose of information about that location.
But other elements also will add to the visibility campaign. These include banners inside and outside Driscoll; a Denver arch in Nelson and Johnson MacFarlane halls; event banners on 24 light poles surrounding campus; a colorful DU kiosk at the light-rail station and four DU-themed bus kiosks elsewhere; outdoor message boards at University Boulevard and Jewel Street and at Buchtel Boulevard and High Street; and new directional signs to make it easier for visitors to find their way around campus.
The $300,000 visibility initiative will unfold over the next few months and will be in place by September, says Grace Stanton, executive director of brand marketing/creative for University Communications, which is spearheading the program.
“This connects students to the rest of the community and unifies the campus,” Stanton says. “It will feel different, not just look different.”