Message Platform

Derived from research conducted with board members, faculty, students, administrators, staff, and community stakeholders, our message platform presents Lewis & Clark’s unique assets and characteristics in a concise but powerful structure:

Lewis & Clark is a private institution with a public conscience and international reach. Our alumni, faculty, and students are recognized as global thinkers and leaders. We are committed to exploring new ways of knowing, developing innovative collaborations, and strengthening civic leadership through our undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.

Lewis & Clark is located in the progressive city of Portland, Oregon. Our three schools offer studies in the arts, humanities, and sciences, and graduate and professional programs in education, counseling, and law.

• Our highly interactive communities of learning challenge us all to connect ideas, reason, and thoughtful expression, transforming lives through education.
• We aspire to lives of service as citizens of the world.
• We challenge the boundaries of convention through original research, integrated learning, and community service.
• We embrace all who are alive to inquiry, committed to diversity, and eager to shape life in an interdependent world.
• We invite you to join us.

Positioning Elements

The following positioning elements are designed to set Lewis & Clark apart from similarly situated institutions of higher education and lay the foundation for all communication strategies and messaging:

• Academic leader
• In and of Portland: a shared progressive/innovative ethos with the Portland community
• Engaged globally and locally

These elements do not represent the exact words that must be used, but rather convey the essential ideas. These ideas can be communicated through storytelling that may incorporate compelling statistics, imagery, and design.

You can find fully developed examples of how the message platform and positioning elements are put into practice in a recent brochure (pdf) produced for distribution to public influencers and prospective donors or in any issue of the Chronicle.