Company Pays Homage to USU through Higher Education Analytics Tool

Utah State University has been at the forefront of implementing effective communication plans to help student retention and completion. Through nudges, brief email messages sent to students with actionable items, USU informs students what they need to do to continue having success in college. This work has been recognized by Civitas, who has now worked with USU to create a powerful messaging tool and named the release of this product feature Big Blue.

“We use to send out very general messages with a laundry list of items for students to complete, but those campaigns weren’t successful,” said Heidi Kesler, director of student retention and completion. “We decided to start sending short emails, or nudges, that students could read quickly and understand what they needed to do and how to do it, such as completing FAFSA, for example.”

In 2016, USU partnered with Civitas Learning, combining the power of USU communication campaigns with Civitas’ ability to segment students into groups based on what they need to do in order to have a successful college experience. This has helped USU deliver unique messages to select students, rather than general emails to the entire student body.

The Big Blue product feature is now available to universities across the nation. It is a robust communications system connected to predictive analytics where administrators can create a message, deliver it to a specific group of students, and then receive reporting on how students interact with it. 

Contact: Kylee Geisler, kylee.geisler@usu.edu