In a post to the National Association of Campus Card Users (NACCU) Positive IDentity blog, Virginia State's Ramonia Prosise discusses how she added new elements to the campus card office. Through attending NACCU conferences, working collaboratively with VSU's campus card provider, and taking advantage of opportunities with outside vendors, read how Prosise was able to boost the card office's stature on campus and improve services for students.

As Prosise writes in her NACCU Positive IDentity entry, she first joined the TrojanCard Office in 2005, at a time when VSU's ID card was only used for meals and copy/print services. It was a trip to her first NACCU Annual Conference a year later in 2006 where Prosise learned about the possibilities that the card office held.

"I met and formed liaisons with so many people from the card industry at the conference, and I set out to develop a business plan for a real card program at VSU," says Prosise. "I learned how extensively other schools were using their cards off campus, so I immediately surveyed the student body to determine which local merchants."

A sure-fire way to raise the stature of the campus card is to enable students and staff to utilize the credential more often and in more locations. Enter VSU's off-campus program.

Prosise first worked with VSU's card system provider -- then General Meters Corporation, now Touchnet -- to solicit and contract local merchants. "We had secured five external merchant contracts and before the end of the year, I added another 15 merchants to accept the university’s ID as a prepaid debit card."

Once the off-campus program was off the ground, adding new merchants year on year became the new goal.

"Good news travels fast, because soon students and local area businesses were contacting my office about the External Merchant Program," recalls Prosise.

Another initiative, with Pepsi Bottling Group, added card readers to the university's beverage vending machines. Prosise paired that with a similar project alongside Canteen Vending to add card readers to all snack vending machines on campus.

Another important service added to the TrojanCard ID was the ability to use card readers to record participation at campus events and programs, while the most recent additions to VSU's repertoire have been online photo submission and mobile ordering.

"With the assistance of NACCU resources, like the Vault and Virtual Webinars, before we knew it, our VSU ID Card Program was comparable to those at other schools," says Prosise.

Prosise credits long-standing NACCU programs like the Annual Conference and webinars, as well as newer resources like naccuTV and the Positive IDentity blog as great sources of insight.

"When another innovation is being rolled out in our industry, I always learn about it through NACCU," she says. "In the past three years, developments like mobile credentials, online photo submission and mobile ordering have made me realize how raising the profile of our campus ID operation never ceases."

Ramonia Prosise has been with Virginia State University since May 1981, where she currently serves as the director of the VSU TrojanCard. Prosise also serves as a member of the NACCU Board of Directors since 2019, and is a Liaison to the NACCU Ambassador Committee.

Prosise is offering further insights to her campus card peers on request. To see her full write up on the VSU card program, visit NACCU.org.