Case Study: Pennsylvania Western University consolidates systems and boosts student engagement with Ellucian Banner Cloud and Ellucian Experience

Pennsylvania Western University Combines Several Schools' Systems into One with Ellucian and Leaps Ahead

Pennsylvania Western University (PennWest), formed in the 2022–23 consolidation of former PASSHE campuses in California, Clarion, and Edinboro, faced steep enrollment and funding pressures—a 36% drop in enrollment across its three campuses from 2012 to 2021—and needed to merge multiple disparate systems into one cohesive student experience. To support the OneSIS ERP/SIS initiative, PennWest selected Ellucian Banner Cloud and sought a single, student-facing portal to simplify access and improve engagement.

PennWest implemented Ellucian Experience as a hub-and-spoke portal with single sign-on, custom APIs and cards (for registration windows, parking permits, appeals, and targeted announcements) integrated with third-party systems. Using Ellucian’s tools, PennWest recorded 1.2 million Experience card interactions in Fall 2022, now sees about 12,000 monthly unique users (with 8,000–9,000 logging in during early October 2023), and reports better efficiency, higher-quality student solutions and more staff time for strategic work.

Pennsylvania Western University

Ken Martin

Applications Architect, IT Services