New banners adorn roads near south campus

Anyone gone from Western Washington University's Bellingham campus during spring break might have seen some new faces on campus as they made their way up to South Campus this morning – specifically, images of students, faculty and staff adorning more than 50 new campus banners on Bill McDonald Parkway, South College Drive and 21st Street.

The banners are a project of the Office of Communications and Marketing and the division of University Relations and Community Development was that was four years in the making.

The project went out to bid and was won by local company Blazing Banners; it consists of 58 banners on 34 poles, with the Bill McDonald and 21st Street areas having two banners per light pole and the S. College Way area getting one banner per pole. Banner projects such as these are common on college campuses, and are an efficient way to promote the university’s identity to visitors as well as current students and employees.

The banners highlight Western's efforts in the classroom, the laboratory, and on the playing field. Some examples of imagery includes alumna Anne d'Aquino ('14) in the Chemistry lab; Geology's Scott Linneman, winner of the Carnegie Foundation's 2013-14 Washington Professor of the Year; and alumna Peanutt Ngeth ('14) with family members in Red Square following last June's commencement. Another banner set welcomes visitors to campus in 10 languages.

"We view this as a great opportunity to display the strength of the Western experience," said Steve Swan, vice president of University Relations and Community Development. "Our students, faculty and staff do an incredible job telling Western’s story, and this just gives them another opportunity to do so."