Students submitted a proposal Wednesday morning to give a new look and name to Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s Award for Public Engagement and Scholarship. The award has existed for 20 years.

The proposed rebranding included a new name and the creation of a logo for the award, which is given annually to outstanding groups and five individuals who are involved with civic engagement. The logo has a series of crescents that fade from orange, symbolizing SU, to purple. Underneath was the proposed new name of the award: the Chancellor’s Award for Universal Scholarship and Engagement, or CAUSE.

Twenty-two communications design juniors in a design project management class presented their marketing and rebranding campaign for the award to a crowd in Warehouse Auditorium. Cantor, Syracuse University’s Board of Trustees, the Center for Public and Community Service and community members involved with the award were in attendance for the presentation.

Now that the redesign has been presented, it is up to Cantor to review the new design and decide what elements she wants to keep. Pamela Heintz, associate vice president for engagement, said her favorite element of redesign was the logo and the symbolism behind it.

‘I think the students have terrific ideas, and now it’s really up to the chancellor to see how she wants to proceed from here. It’s her award, we just facilitate the event,’ said Heintz, who is also the director of the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service. The center helps the chancellor in the awarding process, but it is the chancellor who ultimately picks the winner.

After 20 years, the award was up for a redesign, said Liz Borchert, one of the designers in the class. The design project management class was approached to redo the logo and the marketing because Cantor and officials from the Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service wanted student input, Borchert said. The chancellor had seen the class’ work last year when it rebranded the Near Westside Initiative.

The class proposed to change the name of the award to CAUSE because it felt CAUSE better represented the spirit of the award and was more marketable, Borchert said.

The class created the CAUSE logo and marketing plan on its own and used class time to discuss what worked, Borchert said.

‘We wanted to use a boomerang and focus how one color transforms into other colors,’ Borchert said. ‘It plays on how one act can affect others and how scholarship inspires others to do an act of engagement.’

The classmates split into four groups to focus on specific areas of Wednesday’s presentation, such as the event, marketing, branding and the website, she said. The presentation featured students from the class acting out an SU student’s first-year experience while incorporating the CAUSE campaign throughout it.

Some of the marketing ideas the class had for the award were to put posters around campus and the city; make T-shirts, backpacks and planners; and use social media, Borchert said.

Class members were excited about the audience’s reaction, and some people were so happy with the ideas that they were crying, Borchert said.

John Giammatteo, student representative on the award committee and a senior anthropology and magazine journalism major, worked with the class during the semester to ensure the ideals of the award were being upheld. Giammatteo was one of the individual winners for the award in 2010. He was at the presentation Wednesday morning to see the finished product.

‘To see the whole thing come together and all of the work the students did was great,’ he said. ‘I hope the rebranding will encourage kids to be involved more.’

Rod Martinez, one of the class’ two professors, was also happy with the rebranding project.

‘I think we had an outstanding reaction,’ he said. ‘I think after the smoke cleared from the presentation, people on the Board of Trustees were talking, and they were excited to implement what the students just did.’

krkoerti@syr.edu

Published on April 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm