Initiative coincides with 50th Anniversary

Wye Mills, Maryland – Chesapeake College today unveiled a new marketing and recruitment campaign to kick-off its 50th Anniversary celebration: Your time. Your place. Chesapeake College at 50. Created to increase awareness and enrollment in the college’ s degree, career and enrichment programs, the multi-year campaign will officially launch on campus and in the community on August 19 at the opening of school’s Health Professions and Athletic Center building (HPAC).

“For 50 years, Mid-Shore residents have turned to Chesapeake for college credit, degrees, career training and personal enrichment,” said Barbara Viniar, Chesapeake College President. “This campaign underscores our value as a high-quality, affordable and nurturing center for higher education, career advancement and lifelong learning.”

Your time. Your Place. features a new, distinctive logo mark inspired by the college’s wind turbine and circular campus design with the tagline honoring the milestone anniversary. The logo conveys continuous movement around a center, reflecting multiple points of entry on each person’s journey with Chesapeake College.

Through a series of six student profiles, the campaign highlights individual stories of people throughout the region who have taken advantage of Chesapeake’s wealth of programs and resources.

Campaign planning and research began in November 2014. More than 500 alumni, business leaders, government officials, students, faculty and staff answered online surveys or participated in focus groups held in Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties. The Chesapeake College Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money for the college, commissioned the campaign.

Foundation President Steve Ochse said the 50th anniversary provided the right opportunity for Chesapeake to market itself.

“I strongly believe graduating high school students and their parents need to be more fully aware how Chesapeake provides a great education, and also makes great economic sense,” he said. “It truly is the right time and right place to prepare, start or return to college.”

The research revealed that Chesapeake offers an environment that is friendly and supportive, easily accessible and affordable when compared to other options in Maryland and Delaware.

“It became clear that Chesapeake is a place people turn and return, time and again for themselves and their family members,” said Lucie Hughes, Chesapeake College Vice President of Institutional Advancement. “It also revealed that our faculty members are well regarded for teaching credentials and a commitment to student success.”

Hughes continued that the campaign is a “positive, personal and proud” affirmation of the school’s commitment to the community and emphasizes its status as Maryland’s first regional college. Alumni, she said, are embracing the campaign through social media and in conversations with family and friends.

“Chesapeake has always been a leader in higher education,” said Laura Shahan, class of 2005 and President of Chesapeake College Alumni and Friends Association. “Our new branding is innovative and refreshing, and proves how Chesapeake will continue to stay a leader in the future.”
Dorchester County-based marketing and public relations firm Choptank Communications executed the planning, research and creative development for the campaign.

“Your time. Your place. embraces Chesapeake’s 50-year evolution from cornfield to modern campus with a vibrant and uplifting statement about the college’s personal connection to citizens throughout the region,” said Choptank President Andrea Vernot. “The tagline and logo were created based on the perceptions, values and images most strongly associated with the college.”

To see Chesapeake’s current course offerings, visit: www.chesapeake.edu.