Marketing and Communications
From managing the PNW brand—Power Onward!—to offering marketing strategy and services, we help you reach your target audience while consistently communicating what makes PNW unique.
That's Powering Onward
We’re all brand ambassadors for Purdue University Northwest. Branding is about much more than the proper use of logos or colors. It’s about offering a cohesive presence and tone to represent PNW: Power Onward.
Points of Pride
Purdue University Northwest is a student-centered university that transforms lives through innovative education, impactful research and community engagement.
Purdue University Northwest is a student-centered university that transforms lives through innovative education, impactful research and community engagement. As a FirstGen Forward Network Champion, a doctoral-granting institution, and a designated Collegiate Purple Star of Indiana institution, it proudly reflects a commitment to academic excellence and support for students.
With new Esports Arenas and over 90 student organizations, there is never a dull moment on campus!
With over 15 research centers and institutes students, faculty and staff can collaborate and deepen their understanding of the world around them.
PNW is an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University, an acknowledgment for public research universities with strong evidence of collaboration with public and private sector partners to support economic development, innovation, community development and other areas.
The additions of the Nils K. Nelson Bioscience Innovation Building, the PNW Design Studio, and the Dave Roberts Center for Innovation and Design provide students, faculty and staff with opportunities to work in fully updated, modern facilities.
The Nils K. Nelson Bioscience Innovation Building provides ample space for hanging out between classes, studying and group projects!
The PNW Design Studio, has a wide variety of equipment for engineering students to use in their projects.
Our bell tower is a Hammond Campus landmark that stands between Lawshe Hall, the Student Union Library Building and Nils K. Nelson Bioscience Innovation Building.
Our scenic Westville Campus is filled with welcoming places to study, eat, exercise, spend time with friends or just relax.
How We Can Help
Strategy and Guidance
See how our team can offer strategy and guidance in areas including advertising, social media, website updates, media relations and more.
Templates and Toolkits
From PowerPoint templates to official name badges, access the materials you need to represent PNW in a professional setting.
Submit a Request
We’re here to help! Complete a digital request form and we’ll get the right people involved with your project.
Marketing and Communications Awards
2026 w3 Awards
- Gold Award Winner for the 10-year anniversary video, “Celebrating a Decade of Changing Students’ Lives,” from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA).
The w3 Awards honor the best digital experiences, content and creativity. From global brands and institutions to boutique agencies and independent creators, the platform honors the innovators who set trends, break boundaries and define what’s next in digital media.
2026 Educational Advertising Awards
- Silver Winner in Total Fundraising/Development campaign for “Building a Culture of Philanthropy, ‘Changing Students’ Lives Starts With Us.”
The EduAd award recognizes the integrated marketing efforts that brought together authentic stories from campus champions through a dynamic website, engaging video production, targeted social media outreach, and strategic internal communications. See the full list of winners here.
2025 Communicator Awards
- Award of Excellence, General: School or University, “Lightning Strikes Twice: Building Content Strategy Around an Unexpected Success”
The Communicator Awards is dedicated to recognizing excellence, effectiveness, and innovation across all areas of communication. We are the leading international awards program honoring talent in this highly competitive field. The Communicator Awards is sanctioned and reviewed by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, an invitation-only group consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms.
2025 EduAd Awards
- Gold Winner in Special Promotions Campaign for “Lightning Strikes Twice: Building Content Strategy Around an Unexpected Success”
This year, over 2,000 entries were received from over one-thousand colleges, universities and secondary schools from all fifty states and numerous foreign countries. See the full list of winners here.
2024 Collegiate Ad Awards
- Silver Award, “Blogs,” What Can I Do with an English Degree?
The Collegiate Advertising Awards is an elite national program honoring excellence in advertising, marketing and promotion of higher ed products and services. You can view the winners here.
2025 Education Digital Marketing Awards
- Bronze Award, Microsite, “New Residential Building: Calumet Hall”
The Education Digital Marketing Awards celebrates outstanding achievements in digital marketing within the education sector. See the full list of winners.
2024 Communicator Awards
- Award of Distinction: “Revamping the Paying for College” Pathway
The Communicator Awards is dedicated to recognizing excellence, effectiveness, and innovation across all areas of communication. We are the leading international awards program honoring talent in this highly competitive field. The Communicator Awards is sanctioned and reviewed by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, an invitation-only group consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed media, communications, advertising, creative and marketing firms.
2024 Educational Advertising Awards (EduAdAwards)
- Gold Award in the category of miscellaneous collateral, special promotions for the 2023-24 Student Admit Packet
- Gold Award in the category of Special Promotions Campaign for the revamp of the “Paying for College” Pathway on our website and in print materials
- Bronze Award in the category of Website Refresh for: Program Page SEO Project Successfully Boosts Rankings and Traffic
- Merit Award for our Student Viewbook
This year’s EduAdAwards had more than 2,000 entries from over 1,000 colleges representing all 50 states and numerous foreign countries, so it is especially noteworthy for a staff our size to be recognized among such expansive company. You can view the full list of awards here.
2023 Collegiate Advertising Awards
- Gold Award for the Student Viewbook, March 2024
- Silver Award for the 2023-24 Student Admit Packet, March 2024
The Collegiate Advertising Awards is an elite national program honoring excellence in advertising, marketing and promotion of higher ed products and services. You can view the winners here.
2023 Education Digital Marketing Awards
- Silver Award: Digital Video Ad, Powering Onward Video, November 2023
- Silver Award: Total Digital Marketing Program, Power Onward PNW Digital Marketing Campaign, November 2023
2022 Collegiate Advertising Awards
- “Gold” for Power Onward Recruitment Marketing Campaign, March 2023
- Silver Award for the 2022-23 Student Admit Packet, March 2023
The Collegiate Advertising Awards honors outstanding excellence in all forms of advertising, marketing and promotion specific to higher education products and services. Award listed at http://www.collegiateadawards.com/winners/
Davey Awards
- Silver Award, Integrated Marketing Campaign category.
The Davey Awards are sanctioned by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts to honor outstanding media creative. Entries are scored on a ten-point scale by the judges, and Silver Winners generally receive a score of 7.0 or above.
Educational Digital Marketing Award
- Gold, Digital Advertising Campaign Category
The Educational Digital Marketing Awards recognize colleges, universities and secondary educational institutions with the best creativity, marketing execution, message impact, technology application and innovation content.
PNW News Highlights
PNW’s Water Institute takes interdisciplinary approach to key research area
The Purdue University Northwest Water Institute advances interdisciplinary applied research for studying water resilience and supporting workforce development. It’s an approach that is becoming more necessary for addressing the complex challenges faced by water consumers, from personal use to large-scale agriculture and industry.
PNW and Ivy Tech Community College statewide are strengthening accessibility and affordability for college students pursuing hospitality and tourism careers through several academic transfer pathways.
The Roberts Impact Lab at Purdue University Northwest will advance a regional economic development initiative that supports aspiring innovators through a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.