CampusESP welcomes Customer 550: University of Pittsburgh!
We're celebrating a big milestone: Welcome, University of Pittsburgh, CampusESP Customer 550! One of the leading public research universities in the country, Pitt wanted to ensure families weren't left to navigate a large institution alone — and that the information reaching them was accurate, timely, and useful. We're thrilled to help them build that connection.
From reactive to proactive: a new approach to family engagement
Before partnering with CampusESP, Pitt's family engagement model was largely built around communications supporting in-person events — Welcome Week, Family Weekend, Commencement. Information was going out, but it was reactive rather than intentional.
"We sent a newsletter for families, but it was really just a copy of what we were sending to their students," shared Sam Carlstrom, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications. "With CampusESP, this will be the first time there's intentional content being created just for them."
For Summer Rothrock, Associate Director of Parent and Family Resources, the driving question was simpler: where do Pitt families go when they need help?
"We wanted to create a platform that gives them a one stop shop," said Rothrock. "Truly a hub where they know 'this is the place for me, where I go when my student calls me or needs advice.'"
A unified family communication approach that reduces confusion
At a large institution like Pitt, information lives everywhere — across departments, schools, social media groups, and inboxes. For families trying to support their students, that fragmentation creates noise, confusion, and sometimes outright misinformation.
"This is a way for us to ensure less misinformation, less confusion, less reliance on non-University managed platforms," said Carlstrom.
Meanwhile, the platform Pitt had been relying on for email communications was limiting their ability to grow. Their mailing list functioned as a "black box" — limited segmentation, limited reporting, limited confidence in who was actually receiving their messages.
Why CampusESP, and why now
Pitt came to CampusESP with clear criteria: they wanted a solution built specifically for family engagement, not a student platform with a family feature bolted on.
"CampusESP does one thing and they do it well," said Rothrock. "There are lots of other platforms out there that are student-first and say they have a family component. But I wanted a solution that solely focused on strong family engagement."
The AI-powered content tools were a major draw. With dozens of departments and schools each producing relevant updates, manually curating family-facing content wasn't scalable.
"The AI tools and ability to pull timely resources and updates are critical," said Rothrock. "All the departments and schools have information, and it would be physically impossible to have someone pull all that and get it right. The fact that CampusESP will do it with their technology and we just have to approve it is like hours worth of work that we don't have to do … but that gets us results."
And it didn't hurt that Pitt had already heard good things. Many members of the team were familiar with CampusESP before ever requesting a demo — word of mouth from Duquesne University and others in their networks had planted the seed.
Families as partners in student success
Launching as The Pitt Family Connection, the platform will give families of enrolled students a centralized, segmented destination that keeps them informed and connected throughout their student's journey.
For Rothrock, the stakes are clear. Families aren't just peripheral supporters — they're part of the reason students succeed.
"Every year we get a new generation of students. They change a little bit. It's our job to keep up with them," she said. "Part of their support system is their family, and families change every year. The amount of resources and access and the profile of our families changes every year, and we need to keep up. We need to get ahead so we can create world-class experiences for students and families."
Success, in Rothrock's words, looks like this: families using the platform, telling each other about it, and coming back.
A milestone for CampusESP
Reaching 550 customers is a signal that the higher ed community is moving in a clear direction — and Pitt is a powerful example of what that looks like at scale.
"Welcoming Pitt as our 550th customer is something we're genuinely proud of," said Dave Becker, CEO and co-founder of CampusESP. "When a flagship research university chooses to invest in a purpose-built family engagement platform, it says a lot about where higher education is heading. Pitt's team gets it — families aren't a nice-to-have audience. They're a critical part of the student success equation, and they deserve intentional, accurate, and useful communication. We can't wait to help them deliver that."
We're excited to welcome Pitt to the CampusESP family and look forward to supporting The Pitt Family Connection for years to come!
