DOVER – Delaware State University launches new academic and athletic logos after market research and feedback from more than 600 students, faculty, staff, leadership, alumni and community members.
“It’s what we all remember from our first campus tour visit in middle or high school,” 2023-2024 Student Government Association Vice President Josh Holloway said. “Even now, we say, ‘Meet me at the flagpoles!’ ”
Leah Williams, the National President of the Delaware State University Alumni Association, noted the input of DSU graduates. “As ambassadors of the university, the unique experiences and perspectives of several alumni were utilized to create a design which generations of hornets can embrace,” Williams said.
“We are excited to introduce this new visual mark featuring flags that represent our diversity and honor, a mound that denotes our strong foundation, and traditional blue and red colors that reflect our inspiration and loyalty,” Senior Associate Vice President of Marketing Dr. Dawn Mosley said. “I am proud of our lead designer Jasmine Couch, our entire Marketing team, and the participants who provided valuable feedback to help shape the final design.”
On the athletics side, the mascot beloved by students and alumni for decades has been provided a contemporary look to help propel the University’s Hornet pride into the future. The mascot name originated as the “Blue Hornet” nickname for the blue bus that transported the football team of the then-State College for Colored Students to its away games. By the time the College formally became a member of the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1945, the “Hornet” had already been adopted as the mascot name of the institution’s sports teams.
“With the most diverse intercollegiate athletics program in DSU history, it was time for a more modern, powerful look,” Director of Athletics Alecia Shields-Gadson said. “This new Hornet athletics logo ushers in a new era for all of Delaware State University’s sports teams. It is a work of branding art that reflects all that our intercollegiate teams are striving for – consistent bold and strong performances on the field of play that are packed with an unrelenting sting.”
“Our students are our greatest storytellers, so we’ve readied them with a strong narrative behind the new mark,” Dr. Mosley said. “We’re inspiring our students, alumni, parents, staff, partners and supporters to represent the new DSU and Hornet everywhere and on every platform. We purposefully produced a transformed sense of pride and excitement about who we are and our future. The new DSU mark reflects the way many have already referred to us for years. Now it is official, and we are excited to embrace it. We are DSU!”