Millsaps College Adapts Game-Changing Enrollment and Retention Strategy with Localist Events

To best serve their student population, Millsaps College sought out a streamlined, efficient solution to manage its robust event offerings and enhance both student engagement and admissions efforts. The implementation of Localist Events provided Millsaps College with an easy-to-use, university branded, centralized event management platform that simultaneously improved recruitment strategy and student retention. Read below as Stacey Gaines, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Millsaps College, shares insights on how Localist Events transformed their event management process.

Millsaps College is a private liberal arts institution located in Jackson, Mississippi, with a close-knit community of approximately 600 undergraduate and graduate students. Dedicated to academic excellence and free expression, Millsaps fosters creative thinking, civic-mindedness, and career readiness. With small class sizes and faculty-taught courses, students enjoy personalized attention and ample opportunities to participate in internships, study abroad programs, service learning, and research.

When Stacey Gaines joined Millsaps College as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications, one of her first priorities was to address their outdated website and lack of a centralized events calendar. The previous system created a disjointed communication process, where event information was scattered across multiple channels, check-points and individuals creating an ineffective bottleneck effect. Events would overlap due to lack of coordination, and there was no cohesive way to showcase the vibrant campus life to prospective students.

“There was no centralized events calendar on campus, so everyone was communicating their events individually. Things would fall on top of each other, and from a communications and logistics standpoint, we were really lacking.”

Stacey Gaines, Vice President of Marketing and Communications

The absence of a comprehensive events calendar caused internal confusion and affected prospective students’ ability to see what life at Millsaps was truly like. For a college where campus engagement plays a vital role in recruitment, this gap proved to be a significant pain point. 

Millsaps College decided to integrate Localist Events as part of their website revamp. With Localist Events, they were able to implement a centralized, on-brand, easy-to-use resource that offered a single source of truth for current and prospective students to educate themselves on campus life. The administrative efficiencies were also an immediate benefit Millsaps experienced with Localist Events. The ability for different groups—whether academic departments, student life organizations, or athletics—to take ownership of their event listings has streamlined the process and eliminated bottlenecks in marketing communications.

The ability for students to add events directly to their personal calendars was another feature that significantly impacted attendance. “Being able to add events to personal calendars with reminders was huge for students. They’d say, ‘That sounds cool,’ but then forget. Now, they get reminders and don’t miss out on things they wanted to attend,” Stacey added.

“Now, people are publicizing their events more. There’s been an increase in attendance, there’s less stress, and the events are getting the visibility they deserve.”

Stacey Gaines, Vice President of Marketing and Communications

“One of the biggest before/after differences for us since implementing Localist Events is from a recruitment standpoint. We’ve integrated the events calendar into our admissions process so prospective students now see visit events alongside other campus activities like basketball games or lecture series, which helps keep them and their families on campus longer and boosts enrollment by showcasing the full campus experience.”

Stacey Gaines, Vice President of Marketing and Communications

More than just event listings: the Localist Events platform became a vital tool for admissions, enrollment and student life teams in their recruitment and retention strategy.

For current students, the calendar fosters a sense of belonging and keeps them engaged in campus life—it supports retention by helping students find their ‘squad’ and connecting them with events and groups that match their unique interests.

For prospective students, the calendar offers a real-time look at life on campus. “When prospective students are considering Millsaps, they’re looking at the events calendar and thinking, ‘Are there things I’d enjoy here? Would I fit in?’ Having that transparency helps them make an informed decision,” Stacey added.

From an administrative perspective, Localist Events has drastically improved efficiency, allowing the small team at Millsaps to focus on higher-value tasks. “We’re a small college with a small staff, and Localist Events has freed up time for us to focus on more important things than chasing down event details,” Stacey noted.

The ability for multiple departments and groups to manage their own events has also tapped into campus stakeholder engagement and increased overall participation in the event listing process. “My favorite feature of Localist Events is the way it empowers the whole campus to be part of the events process. It’s getting us greater exposure into the true picture of what events are going on all the time and that’s awesome.” – Stacey Gaines, VP of Marketing and Communications

Localist Events has transformed the way Millsaps College manages and promotes events. By offering a centralized platform that serves both current and prospective students, the college has improved campus engagement and strengthened its recruitment efforts.
Stacey Gaines summarized the impact Localist Events has had on the admissions process: “It’s a tool we didn’t realize would be so powerful in recruitment. Prospective students are looking at the events calendar to see if they’ll fit in. The events calendar shows them a vibrant campus, and that’s a big factor in their decision-making process.”

In addition to its role in recruitment, the platform has helped Millsaps streamline administrative efficiency and ensure that every event gets the visibility it deserves. Localist Events has truly become an indispensable tool for the college, benefiting students, staff, and future applicants.