More than a New Look
As our partner colleges welcome students back on campus for the fall semester, Rize proudly unveils its refreshed brand - a milestone that reflects our forward momentum while staying true to the mission and values that have been our compass from day one.
We’ve refreshed our logo, colors, typography, and more - but for our team, this is more than a new look. The evolution of our brand marks the significant progress we have made over the last six years.
As we celebrate this next step forward for Rize, we would also like to reflect on where we started, how far we’ve come, and where we’re going next.
Our Origin Story
In 2019, our founders Kevin and Connor left their jobs in NYC and moved to the small town of Adrian, Michigan to try to find a way to build a more sustainable business model for colleges and their students.
Adrian College’s President, Dr. Jeffrey Docking, invited them to live on campus and learn, first-hand, what sorts of innovations could both preserve the best parts of the traditional college experience while enhancing its ability to meet the needs of today’s students. So for two years, Kevin and Connor lived in student housing, ate their meals in the dining hall, worked out of the administration building, and spent their days alongside Adrian’s faculty and staff designing a solution custom-built for the small colleges of the future.
With what they learned, they founded Rize - a small education technology company with a singular mission: to provide a pathway to fulfilling employment for every student while improving the financial sustainability of small colleges.
To accomplish that mission, Rize would build a first-of-its-kind online platform to enable small colleges to share in-demand programs like computer science, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.
By more affordably offering the academic portfolio students want, small colleges could grow enrollment, stabilize their finances, improve student outcomes, and invest back into their campus, attracting even more students in the long run. As Rize’s Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Harrington explains:
“Rize’s initial solution addresses a key challenge for small colleges: providing the career-ready programs students (and their families) want without the prohibitive cost and risk of doing it alone. We empower institutions to collaborate and stay competitive with larger schools by delivering exceptional student outcomes that sustain long-term enrollment growth. “
In January 2020, Rize kicked off its pilot semester and helped Adrian and six other colleges launch new classes in three subjects: Computer Science, Professional Sales, and Supply Chain Management.
Kevin and Connor moved back to New York in 2021 to give Rize its own office space, and from there, we grew rapidly. They sought out bright, mission-driven minds in software engineering, instructional design, enrollment, partner success, content creation, marketing, and sales to join the team.
What started as a humble team of two (and a logo Kevin drew in PowerPoint) has flourished into a world-class team of over 60 people who are making those dreams a reality. Our mission remains steadfast, but our power to reshape higher education across America has grown exponentially.
This last year alone, we doubled our team size to deepen the ways we serve our partners across every dimension: instructional design, enrollment consulting, student success & retention, and career readiness.
As of August 2025, Rize powers more than 700 programs across 130+ partner colleges. Our academic catalog has expanded to include 25 graduate and undergraduate programs, each in a field with higher-than-average job growth and better-than-average salaries. In Rize’s pilot semester, 90 students registered for a course. This fall semester, we expect over 6,000 students.
Most importantly, we've empowered our partner institutions to do what they do best - provide transformative educational experiences that lead to a lifetime of fulfillment. Together, we're proving that small colleges can do far more than survive; they can lead the path forward for higher education as a whole.
Our Mission & Values
As we look toward the future, our work continues to be inspired by our original mission: to provide a pathway to fulfilling employment for every student while improving the financial sustainability of small colleges.
Our core values guide our everyday work as we pursue that mission:
- Academic: Like your favorite professor, we foster a learning environment that inspires curiosity, preparing students not just for fulfilling careers but for a lifetime of continuous growth and a love of learning.
- Human: We build strong relationships based on authenticity, trust, and respect with our students, partners, and colleagues.
- Best-in-Class: We are constantly learning, adapting, and innovating to ensure that we exceed the expectations of our partners and students.
- Accessible: We are committed to removing barriers to education and creating opportunities for a diverse range of learners and institutions.
- Aspirational: We believe in the transformative power of education to change lives, strengthen communities, and contribute to a better future for all.
Visual Identity
Our refreshed logo, typography, and colors are a modern and dynamic expression of the transformative work that we do. A bold mission deserves a bold look - and our visual identity has been designed to achieve just that. See for yourself:
The Road Ahead
Today, with the launch of Rize’s updated brand, we celebrate a significant milestone in our journey.
The updated brand reflects the incredible progress we’ve made over the past six years. What started as a small, ambitious team has flourished into a world-class organization with a robust ecosystem of support that has built stronger foundations for small colleges and opened doors to meaningful careers for their students. Kevin shares that:
“We couldn’t be more excited about the next chapter of Rize’s journey. While our mission remains the same, our ability to serve students and institutions is only going to improve. These last 6 years have served to lay down a tremendous foundation, and they are only the beginning!”
To our partners - thank you for being a part of our story - we can’t wait to see what we build together in this next shared chapter of serving students.
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Vivian is passionate about working at Rize because she believes students need an education that is affordable and lucrative, but also enriching. She values Rize’s pioneering hybrid campus model that ensures students don’t have to choose between these essentials. Outside of work, she enjoys camping, hiking, painting, reading, and building things in video games.
More than a New Look
As our partner colleges welcome students back on campus for the fall semester, Rize proudly unveils its refreshed brand - a milestone that reflects our forward momentum while staying true to the mission and values that have been our compass from day one.
We’ve refreshed our logo, colors, typography, and more - but for our team, this is more than a new look. The evolution of our brand marks the significant progress we have made over the last six years.
As we celebrate this next step forward for Rize, we would also like to reflect on where we started, how far we’ve come, and where we’re going next.
Our Origin Story
In 2019, our founders Kevin and Connor left their jobs in NYC and moved to the small town of Adrian, Michigan to try to find a way to build a more sustainable business model for colleges and their students.
Adrian College’s President, Dr. Jeffrey Docking, invited them to live on campus and learn, first-hand, what sorts of innovations could both preserve the best parts of the traditional college experience while enhancing its ability to meet the needs of today’s students. So for two years, Kevin and Connor lived in student housing, ate their meals in the dining hall, worked out of the administration building, and spent their days alongside Adrian’s faculty and staff designing a solution custom-built for the small colleges of the future.
With what they learned, they founded Rize - a small education technology company with a singular mission: to provide a pathway to fulfilling employment for every student while improving the financial sustainability of small colleges.
To accomplish that mission, Rize would build a first-of-its-kind online platform to enable small colleges to share in-demand programs like computer science, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.
By more affordably offering the academic portfolio students want, small colleges could grow enrollment, stabilize their finances, improve student outcomes, and invest back into their campus, attracting even more students in the long run. As Rize’s Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Harrington explains:
“Rize’s initial solution addresses a key challenge for small colleges: providing the career-ready programs students (and their families) want without the prohibitive cost and risk of doing it alone. We empower institutions to collaborate and stay competitive with larger schools by delivering exceptional student outcomes that sustain long-term enrollment growth. “
In January 2020, Rize kicked off its pilot semester and helped Adrian and six other colleges launch new classes in three subjects: Computer Science, Professional Sales, and Supply Chain Management.
Kevin and Connor moved back to New York in 2021 to give Rize its own office space, and from there, we grew rapidly. They sought out bright, mission-driven minds in software engineering, instructional design, enrollment, partner success, content creation, marketing, and sales to join the team.
What started as a humble team of two (and a logo Kevin drew in PowerPoint) has flourished into a world-class team of over 60 people who are making those dreams a reality. Our mission remains steadfast, but our power to reshape higher education across America has grown exponentially.
This last year alone, we doubled our team size to deepen the ways we serve our partners across every dimension: instructional design, enrollment consulting, student success & retention, and career readiness.
As of August 2025, Rize powers more than 700 programs across 130+ partner colleges. Our academic catalog has expanded to include 25 graduate and undergraduate programs, each in a field with higher-than-average job growth and better-than-average salaries. In Rize’s pilot semester, 90 students registered for a course. This fall semester, we expect over 6,000 students.
Most importantly, we've empowered our partner institutions to do what they do best - provide transformative educational experiences that lead to a lifetime of fulfillment. Together, we're proving that small colleges can do far more than survive; they can lead the path forward for higher education as a whole.
Our Mission & Values
As we look toward the future, our work continues to be inspired by our original mission: to provide a pathway to fulfilling employment for every student while improving the financial sustainability of small colleges.
Our core values guide our everyday work as we pursue that mission:
- Academic: Like your favorite professor, we foster a learning environment that inspires curiosity, preparing students not just for fulfilling careers but for a lifetime of continuous growth and a love of learning.
- Human: We build strong relationships based on authenticity, trust, and respect with our students, partners, and colleagues.
- Best-in-Class: We are constantly learning, adapting, and innovating to ensure that we exceed the expectations of our partners and students.
- Accessible: We are committed to removing barriers to education and creating opportunities for a diverse range of learners and institutions.
- Aspirational: We believe in the transformative power of education to change lives, strengthen communities, and contribute to a better future for all.
Visual Identity
Our refreshed logo, typography, and colors are a modern and dynamic expression of the transformative work that we do. A bold mission deserves a bold look - and our visual identity has been designed to achieve just that. See for yourself:
The Road Ahead
Today, with the launch of Rize’s updated brand, we celebrate a significant milestone in our journey.
The updated brand reflects the incredible progress we’ve made over the past six years. What started as a small, ambitious team has flourished into a world-class organization with a robust ecosystem of support that has built stronger foundations for small colleges and opened doors to meaningful careers for their students. Kevin shares that:
“We couldn’t be more excited about the next chapter of Rize’s journey. While our mission remains the same, our ability to serve students and institutions is only going to improve. These last 6 years have served to lay down a tremendous foundation, and they are only the beginning!”
To our partners - thank you for being a part of our story - we can’t wait to see what we build together in this next shared chapter of serving students.
Vivian is passionate about working at Rize because she believes students need an education that is affordable and lucrative, but also enriching. She values Rize’s pioneering hybrid campus model that ensures students don’t have to choose between these essentials. Outside of work, she enjoys camping, hiking, painting, reading, and building things in video games.
