The Challenge

California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM) faced a critical opportunity to secure support for their transformative $110 million Integrated Science and Engineering Building, ranked as the number one academic building priority in the entire CSU system. The 70,000 square foot facility would serve as a catalyst for regional STEM workforce development and university-industry partnerships, but required navigation of complex approval processes involving CSU system leadership, state funding authorities and diverse stakeholder communities. The challenge was amplified by intense competition for limited capital project funding across California’s higher education system and the need to demonstrate clear return on investment during a period of fiscal scrutiny.

CSUSM needed to articulate the building’s significance to audiences ranging from CSU trustees and state legislators to industry partners and campus constituencies. Each stakeholder group brought different priorities and decision-making criteria, requiring sophisticated messaging that could maintain consistent core themes while addressing specific audience interests. The project’s success depended on building broad-based support that would sustain momentum through multiple approval stages and potential funding cycles, all while positioning CSUSM as a forward-focused institution capable of executing ambitious infrastructure development.

Our Approach

Our work began with extensive research to understand the project’s complexity and stakeholder landscape. We conducted weekly project team meetings with key university leadership, including the chief communications officer, director of communications, visual communications specialist, vice president of university advancement, associate vice president for development and director of philanthropy. This collaborative approach ensured alignment across all communications and advancement functions.

We performed a comprehensive content analysis of critical documents, including the original feasibility study, final report from the Engineering Resources Task Force and a specialized case statement for engineering that had been written for a top donor prospect and helped CSUSM secure a $1.5 million gift to renovate existing space.

We also analyzed campus statistics, institutional points of pride and prior and current impact reports to establish a foundation of institutional knowledge. To capture diverse perspectives, we facilitated focus groups with alumni, trustees, industry partners, three separate faculty groups, administrators and facilities staff, complemented by in-depth interviews with the president and vice president of university advancement.

Following this holistic research, Tripepi Smith developed comprehensive advocacy materials that positioned the Integrated Science and Engineering Building as an economic development engine for North San Diego County’s thriving STEM industry cluster. Our strategy emphasized the building’s role in workforce pipeline development, highlighting partnerships with regional employers, including ViaSat, Genentech and Thermo Fisher Scientific who needed skilled graduates from state-of-the-art facilities. We created messaging frameworks that connected the university’s educational mission with broader economic competitiveness and innovation ecosystem development.

The materials development process involved extensive collaboration with university leadership, faculty and industry stakeholders to ensure authentic and compelling content. We produced a suite of advocacy tools, including comprehensive brochures, presentation materials, infographics and fact sheets that could be customized for different audiences while maintaining consistent project messaging. The content balanced technical facility specifications with accessible explanations of programmatic benefits, emphasizing how the building would enhance teaching, research and industry collaboration capabilities.

Our approach integrated visual storytelling with data-driven impact projections, creating materials that helped stakeholders envision the building’s transformative potential. We positioned the project within CSUSM’s broader institutional growth trajectory while demonstrating alignment with CSU system priorities and state workforce development needs. The advocacy materials supported targeted outreach to decision-makers at multiple levels, from campus presentations to system-wide approval processes, ensuring consistent and professional communication throughout the advancement campaign.

Results

The advocacy campaign successfully maintained the project’s number one priority ranking within the CSU system and secured critical approvals from California State University trustees, positioning CSUSM to advance toward nearly $60 million in identified construction funding. The comprehensive materials supported over 100 stakeholder engagements across identified audience segments, generating positive feedback on messaging clarity and visual presentation quality. These interactions built confidence in the project’s feasibility and institutional capacity while strengthening relationships with industry partners and regional economic development organizations.

The successful advocacy effort established CSUSM’s reputation for sophisticated capital project planning and stakeholder engagement, enhancing the university’s positioning for future infrastructure initiatives. The building project advanced toward its ambitious timeline with potential groundbreaking in 2025 and grand opening in Fall 2027, representing the first major construction on campus in over a decade. The materials continued supporting ongoing community engagement and partnership development efforts that extend beyond the building’s completion.

Most significantly, the collaboration established the foundation for Tripepi Smith’s continued partnership with CSUSM, leading to subsequent successful projects, including the award-winning social mobility brochure that supported the university’s inaugural fundraising dinner and generated over $1 million for student success initiatives. The advocacy materials project demonstrated how strategic communications can transform complex institutional initiatives into compelling stakeholder narratives that drive decision-making and advance organizational goals, creating lasting value that extends far beyond individual project outcomes.