Dear Students, Alumni, Friends, and Colleagues:

Shortly after I arrived at this remarkable institution, I identified several key initiatives, one of which was to advance the visibility and reputation of the university.

As I embarked on a “listening tour,” meeting with as many of you as I could, I heard countless stories of problem-solving, innovation, personal commitment, and academic success—stories that I feel are important to share with the world.

In keeping with that effort, I am happy to announce the new CSUN Shine initiative, a unifying positioning platform for our university. The goal of CSUN Shine is to communicate with pride the university’s unique identity and distinctive qualities—in essence, to relay in an ongoing, consistent manner all the ways CSUN shines.

Starting this week and continuing into 2013, you will begin to see CSUN Shine graphics and messaging throughout the university: on the Internet homepage, in publications, as signage, in official communications, and in social media.

I chose to keep our initial efforts all no-cost, and therefore in-house. The CSUN Shine positioning platform was developed internally as a continuation of work begun in 2010 by the research firm Lipman Hearne. Additionally, this initial rollout of the campaign will take advantage of existing print and online communications, which already reach a wide audience. The CSUN homepage alone, for instance, has more than 50,000 unique visitors daily.

You will find more about the CSUN Shine initiative, including downloadable graphics and guidelines for using them, at www.csun.edu/graphic-standards/csun-shine.html. Our students at Viscom played an integral role in developing the CSUN Shine graphics (see below), and I am grateful for the outstanding work and level of professionalism they brought to the project.

It did not take me long once I arrived on campus to witness that at CSUN, the extraordinary becomes the routine—each and every day.

I invite you to join me in this CSUN Shine initiative, even if simply in spirit. Together, we will continue to make CSUN shine throughout our campus community, the greater Los Angeles area, the state, and well beyond.

Sincerely,

Dianne F. Harrison, Ph.D.
President
California State University, Northridge