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New LCD displays send a message of progress and growth at Baltimore’s Coppin State University

When Ronnie L. Collins Sr. talks about his University, his pride is unmistakable. “We provide educational opportunities through the master's level for primarily low-income, first generation students in the central city of Baltimore, Maryland,” explained the Dean of the Honors College at Coppin State University. “We take students who, in some cases, have not lived up to their fullest academic potential in high school, and we provide them with academic experiences that transform their lives.”

With demonstrable success: “Within the last 8 years, our graduates have earned master's and doctorates from such schools as Howard University, Harvard University, the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Duke, St. John’s, Brandeis, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Wisconsin.”

Despite its academic strengths and its having won several national awards for campus technology innovation, Coppin State sometimes struggles with image issues. “We are a central-city institution,” said Dean Collins, “and with that comes stereotypical thinking on the part of some.” Because erroneous perceptions can negatively affect enrollment – leading prospective students and their parents “to wrongly conclude that our venerable University is not cutting-edge,” as Dean Collins put it – the University has taken proactive steps to demonstrate its excellence to the world.

Among those steps was their recent decision to install two Rise LCD electronic displays at the entrance of the most highly frequented facility on campus, the Grace Hill Jacobs Classroom Building, where over 75% of all university classes are held. “About a year ago, I began to think about how to enhance the entrance to the main classroom building on campus,” said Dean Collins. “I wanted a solution that would capture the attention of individuals entering the main classroom building. I also wanted a means to display the excellent research of our Scholars, Honors, and other students on campus.”

But why an electronic display? “I wanted to take the university to yet another level of sophistication through a visual medium. I felt that we needed to communicate publicly that we are forward thinking technologically and on the cutting-edge academically. I wanted potential Coppin students and their parents to go ‘WOW’ when they entered the classroom building.”

Mindful of potential criticism if their choice of display solutions was seen as either too costly or ineffectual, the university enlisted the help of Rise Display to recommend the perfect signage. “Rise provided a total solution. While I looked carefully at products offered by other companies, I found none that matched Rise in terms of quality, service and overall cost of product.”

And the result? According to Dean Collins, their new LCD displays have been very successful in boosting the university’s image. Thanks to the new electronic signage, “the entrance to our 1970’s-style facility, which will not be renovated for another 3 to 5 years, has been modernized almost overnight,” said the Dean. “People are talking about the academic and professional look that the solution has brought to the building.”

Not only has this transformation inspired new confidence in the University – “I overheard one of our graduates from the early 1960's say that she is ‘so proud of Coppin.’”, asserted Dean Collins – but it also provides much new and useful information to its students. “People are actually stopping to check the status of their stocks on a display that scrolls constantly throughout the day,” he continued, “and we have been able to announce dates of major colloquia and critical information regarding an upcoming Middle States Accreditation visit. I am very pleased with our display solution’s overall appearance and the potential it has for messaging on many levels.”

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