The University of Alabama launched its first undergraduate business program over a century ago. Today, the University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Business is a thriving modern institution with its own dedicated building complex at the heart of campus. The College boasts a total enrollment of over ten thousand students across undergraduate, graduate and executive education programs: a diverse student body that expects the very best from an institution ranked as one of the country’s top public business schools.
The Culverhouse College of Business offers a leading-edge curriculum, with programs designed to help graduates succeed in a tech-powered economy. They offer dedicated degrees in information systems and business cyber security, as well as executive education programs in artificial intelligence and technology and data. As the College has grown, however, the physical campus has not always reflected the institution’s future-focused programs. In 2023, the school partnered directly with 22Miles to upgrade the College’s digital signage and wayfinding experience, bringing the campus into alignment with the curriculum and supporting a more connected student body.
The Challenge
The University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Business has expanded dramatically in the past few decades. It now includes four facilities: the main classroom building Bidgood Hall, home to the College’s state-of-the-art research labs; Hewson Hall and Alston Hall, which house additional classrooms, collaboration spaces, auditoriums, and offices; and the Bruno Business Library, home to the College’s computer classrooms and Technology Group.
The growing campus became difficult to navigate: faculty observed issues with student tardiness, and administrators wanted a better way for visitors and prospective students, including busy working executives, to engage in self-guided exploration. In addition, networking and community is a core aspect of any business school’s value proposition, but the College’s current digital signage solution was not helping support these connections. Delivering updates to multiple displays across four buildings was a persistent challenge, leading to dated and stale content in important spaces like the Board of Visitors welcome center. Culverhouse College needed an updated solution to serve their growing student body and bring faculty, students, and visitors together.
The Solution
The College chose 22Miles to modernize their existing display deployment and streamline operations. Working together, 22Miles and the University of Alabama Department of Marketing and Communications implemented a unified Content Management System (CMS) to deliver on-brand content to 10 interactive wayfinding displays and touchscreen displays for the Board of Visitors and Insurance Hall of Fame, all powered by Intel NUC hardware. The wayfinding displays offer 3D navigation to over 700 campus locations. Users can also access personalized turn-by-tun directions on their mobile devices via 22Miles Mobile Wayfinding feature.
The platform is integrated with the University event software, bringing event listings to the displays in real time and supporting a vibrant, connected campus life. The 22Miles CMS Content Flow Control feature streamlines the content approval and scheduling workflow for the College—now, signs across all facilities can be easily updated remotely, never falling out of date.
Accessibility is a central aspect of the solution design: any touchscreen can be instantly reoriented to bring touchscreen controls within easy reach for students in wheelchairs, and navigation includes ADA routing options for all destinations. The system is also multilingual, translating content and controls to Spanish or English with a single tap.
The Results
The University of Alabama saw an immediate return on objective for their upgraded visual communications system. Reflecting on the new campus-wide wayfinding deployment, University of Alabama Director of Marketing and Communications Director Zach Thomas shares, “It looks awesome. People love it. People interact with it heavily. It’s easy to update, and it’s really just made our lives a lot easier.”
The new solution is feeding the Culverhouse College team data on popular location and event searches, helping the college to plan for future growth and support a connected student body. Students and visitors are navigating the campus more easily, arriving at events and classes on time. Most importantly, the College’s physical facilities now reflect the school’s cutting-edge, technologically integrated identity. This is a facility clearly prepared to train students for the 21st century economy.
