In the constantly changing landscape of higher education, institutions often find themselves at crossroads, compelled to adapt to evolving trends, shifting demographics, and changing societal expectations. In the past few years, Oakton College (formerly Oakton Community College) has found itself at such a crossroad. We embarked on a transformative journey to redefine our relevance and reaffirm our commitment to our community through a comprehensive brand refresh—a journey that proved to involve so much more than updating logos and slogans.
Recognizing the Need for Change
Oakton College is a U.S. community college with campuses in Des Plaines and Skokie, Illinois. It opened in 1969 as Oakton Community College and today serves 9,256 credit-bearing students, offering more than 150 academic degrees and certificate programs. We’ve both served at the college for several years—Katherine as Chief Advancement Officer since 2018 and Andrea as Director of Marketing since 2019.
Since 2020, a confluence of factors spurred Oakton (then Oakton Community College) toward a brand refresh. For years, we had been grappling with declining enrollment, a persistent stigma associated with community colleges, and mounting questions about the value of higher education. On top of this, a global pandemic, a surging social justice movement, and the ever-evolving needs of our district and workforce partners added to these challenges.
In 2019, the college celebrated a milestone 50th anniversary, and by 2021, our marketing and communications team was in the thick of a massive website redesign and aligning our work to the college’s new strategic plan and long-term vision. In the midst of this, the college’s governing board voted to remove the word “community” from our name. Committed to helping the college lean into our promising future, college trustees felt that “Oakton College” reflected a more contemporary institutional name.
We aren’t the only community college to make this change in recent years. Other institutions across the U.S. have recently opted to remove “community” from their names in efforts to “modernize their images and boost enrollment,” Inside Higher Ed reported in May 2022. Recent examples include Florida’s Tallahassee Community College, now Tallahassee State as of July 1, 2024; New York’s Niagara County Community College, now SUNY Niagara; or Texas’ Dallas Community College District, now Dallas College.
While it was potentially daunting, we saw this convergence of events as a golden opportunity—the perfect occasion for us to reevaluate our brand identity and our role within the community. With support from leadership, we embarked on a transformative journey toward revitalizing our brand, launching a yearlong endeavor to reflect on why the college matters and to reestablish its relevance.
