Denison University

Client

Founded in 1831 and located in Granville, Ohio, Denison University is a recognized leader among American liberal arts colleges. With a purpose to inspire and educate students to become autonomous thinkers, discerning moral agents, and active citizens in society, Denison University enjoys generations-long relationships with students, alumni, and community and business partners throughout the world.

Their goal

As with any industry, consumers have choices, and higher education has become an increasingly competitive space. Denison University came to Meriwether Group to engage with thought partners who could help them reevaluate nearly every aspect of the school, from student enrollment and campus life to alumni engagement, business partnerships, and the curriculum they offered to engage and attract students while providing a meaningful and unique experience.  The goal was to help Denison University be disruptive and to set them apart from their peers/competitors AND to do so in an authentic way that is aligned with their own brand and DNA.

How we helped

Meriwether Group has engaged with Denison University on many projects and continues to work with the school from the president on down to this day. Using our proprietary North Star approach, we helped the university clearly define and communicate Denison as a coveted brand and destination in education. Meriwether conducted a competitive market analysis and participated in dozens of conversations with faculty, students, and alumni to deeply understand and position Denison as the differentiated and special place that it is. We also worked with the school to evolve the Knowlton Center for Career Exploration, to include a clearly stated mission and vision, refined their student program offering, as well as used our deep and expansive rolodex to introduce the school to businesses as future employers of Denison students.  Specifically, we helped articulate a strategy around the nexus between best-in-class academics, a robust student life AND career launch.

The result

Launching in 2021, Meriwether Group helped develop Denison Edge and the Journey Program, a new and innovative space for career readiness that disrupts the traditional liberal arts classroom-to-career pipeline and aids students in mapping their college journey and integrating academics, student life and launch. This bold thinking represents the solutions students want, employers need, and the higher ed sector, especially liberal arts colleges, should own. Our team also connected Denison to next-generation brands that have since hired many students and graduates for internships, externships, and full-time employment upon graduation. Our founder, David Howitt, is on Denison University’s Board of Advisors and serves as a close advisor and resource to Denison’s president, Adam Weinberg.   As a result of this work, Denison has truly differentiated itself from other liberal arts colleges and has seen a meteoric rise in applicants and a much higher caliber of students – allowing Denison to significantly move up the ranks.