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Success Story

Building a Student Engagement Platform Like a Startup: Northwestern’s Student-First Approach

Northwestern wanted a platform students would actually use, not just administrators. The office approached its CampusGroups implementation like a startup launch, putting student needs and adoption at the center. Today, the platform is where Northwestern students go to find campus resources and engage in campus life.
Type of Institution:
Private Research University
Client Since:
2025
Location:
Evanston, Illinois
Student Population:
23,000

About Northwestern University

Founded in 1851, Northwestern University is a private research university with campuses in Evanston and Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. The university’s Office of Student Organizations & Activities supports more than 500 registered student organizations, helping create a vibrant student community beyond the classroom.

Outcomes

Northwestern launched CampusGroups, branded on campus as Cats on Campus, in the fall of 2025. Early results showed strong adoption, while the university continues expanding how it uses the platform:
app installs in two days
0 +
at Northwestern's Fall Organization Fair.
QR check-in adoption by January
0 %
with every organization using its QR code at the winter fair.
Annual student requirements moved into CampusGroups in 2026
replacing a years-long manual workaround on the university’s learning system.

Challenges

Northwestern needed a more student-focused approach to campus involvement. Several gaps stood in the way:

  1. No single home for involvement: Information about campus life was spread across different offices and channels, making opportunities harder for students to discover.
  2. Limited student awareness: Many students were unfamiliar with the university’s existing involvement platform.
  3. No dedicated mobile experience: Students lacked a branded app for campus involvement and push notifications.
  4. Limited online engagement: Students rarely used the existing platform to post events, manage rosters, or run elections.
  5. Basic attendance tracking: Staff relied on simple RSVP lists, limiting visibility into participation and engagement.

Solutions

Northwestern selected CampusGroups to create a more accessible, student-focused home for involvement by providing:

  • One home for campus involvement: Organizations, events, and other activities come together in one platform, making opportunities easier for students to discover and join.
  • A student-selected identity: Northwestern opened the platform naming process to its community. Students ultimately selected Cats on Campus as the platform’s campus brand, giving students a sense of ownership from the start.
  • A branded mobile experience: Cats on Campus gives students a dedicated mobile destination for campus involvement, with push notifications that help keep them informed.
  • More ways to engage: The platform gives students tools to post events, manage rosters, and run elections online, making more aspects of involvement accessible in one place.
  • More meaningful engagement data: Detailed attendance tracking gives Northwestern greater visibility into participation beyond basic RSVP lists.

Implementation

Northwestern approached the rollout with a startup mindset, putting students at the center of the platform evaluation, build-out, and launch. This included:

  • Student-led evaluation: The Associated Student Government President led the evaluation process, consulting stakeholders across campus life, including graduate students, competitive sports, and Greek life, before Northwestern selected CampusGroups.
  • A staggered rollout: Northwestern started with spring re-registration for student organizations. This gave staff the summer to prepare for the broader launch.
  • Adoption built into the experience: Northwestern made Cats on Campus part of how students accessed and experienced campus involvement. Communications across residence halls, email, and other channels reinforced the platform as the destination for campus involvement.
  • A clear destination: The university directed students to one calendar for the rest of the quarter, creating a consistent destination for campus involvement.

Image: 2025 Fall Organization Fair
Image attribution: Student Affairs Marketing, Northwestern University

The Startup Mindset

The startup mindset continued after launch. Rather than treating implementation as a one-time project, Northwestern continued looking for ways to make the platform more useful to students and staff. This included:

  • More efficient communications: Weekly leader emails now run through the platform, saving Northwestern about $2,000 a year while giving student leaders visibility into open and click rates.
  • Student leader requirements: In 2026, student leader requirements moved into Tracks and Checklists.
  • More targeted communication: Northwestern’s orientation team adopted tags to organize communications by school.
“We embraced that challenge”
“You've got to treat the platform like your own little startup. We embraced that challenge.”
Joe Lattal, Associate Director, Student Organizations & Activities
Northwestern University
“It needs to be an improvement.”
“If you're going to convince a campus to make a change, it can't just be as good as what we had. It needs to be an improvement.”
Joe Lattal, Associate Director, Student Organizations & Activities
Northwestern University
“We had to give students a reason to use it”
“We knew launching the platform wasn’t enough. We had to give students a reason to use it and make it part of how they engaged with campus life.”
Joe Lattal, Associate Director, Student Organizations & Activities
Northwestern University

Conclusion

Northwestern’s approach shows that launching a student engagement platform is not only a technology project. Adoption needs to be considered from the start. By putting students at the center of its evaluation and treating the rollout like a startup launch, Northwestern created a clear path for students to engage with Cats on Campus. The university has since continued expanding how it uses the platform across campus.

Image: 2025 Fall Organization Fair
Image attribution: Student Affairs Marketing, Northwestern University