FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: barrett.bogue@evocatillc.com  

Washington, D.C. - Evocati announced an historic research partnership today with Fayetteville State University (FSU) to better attract and support underrepresented veterans of color. Founded in 1867, FSU is a “public comprehensive, Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in North Carolina that offers degree programs rooted in the liberal arts tradition. FSU strives to meet the educational, career, and personal aspirations of its students from rural, military, and other diverse backgrounds so that they are equipped with academic and practical knowledge to serve local, state, national, and global communities as enlightened citizens, globally astute leaders, and engaged solution creators.” 

FSU enrolls approximately 1,700 military-connected students annually. It tapped Evocati Growth to conduct a seminal research project analyzing its competitive position among all HBCUs and to provide recommendations for improving their outreach and services to military-connected students.  

“Building on our more than two decades of experience and knowledge, no one was better positioned than Evocati to support this incredible institution in its sincere efforts to better serve underrepresented students,” said Barrett Y. Bogue, president and founder at Evocati. “FSU is already a high-performing institution—we were honored to provide senior decision makers with key market intelligence and recommendations to help it become America’s destination HBCU for military-connected students of color.”

The internal peer review analysis was conducted over three months and successfully completed in August 2021. The project sought to compare student enrollment, retention, graduation, and post-graduation success rates among all HBCUs with FSU; to compare all HBCUs in key college and university ranking services for veterans; and to provide recommendations for how FSU can increase productivity and footprint in service to active-duty members of the military, military-affiliated students, and veterans. Finally, the research provided an overview of the current policy landscape and national discourse around HBCUs and identified how FSU could take advantage of its institutional position. 

Evocati welcomed a new addition to the team to support its growing higher education portfolio. LeNaya Hezel is a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) organizational strategist, and founder and CEO of NayceQuest. She joined Evocati as a Higher Education Consultant and will continue to add her considerable experience supporting future clients as she did with FSU.

“It was a tremendous honor to serve in partnership with Evocati to identify the strengths of FSU, while also developing additional pathways to empower underrepresented military-connected students attending an HBCU,” said LeNaya Hezel. “I look forward to collaborating with the Evocati team to amplify the diverse experiences among military-connected students attending institutions not often mentioned in the higher education landscape.” 

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ABOUT EVOCATI 

Founded in 2018, Evocati is a marketing and consulting firm that partners with leading businesses around the country to grow their investment within the military-connected community. Its mission is to empower any leader with a cost-efficient means to research, market, and grow their service within the military-connected community. Evocati is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business that operates in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

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