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McPherson College Alumnus Wins Contest to Design New Bulldog Mascot

There’s a new face for McPherson College’s Bulldog mascot, and it was one of MC’s own alumni who designed the new logo.

Evan Hiebert ’14, McPherson, Kan., submitted two designs for the “Design the Bulldog” contest, which was open to all McPherson College alumni, students, faculty and staff to enter. The grand prize for winning the contest is $1,000 and – even more meaningfully to Hiebert – that MC will now use his design as the college’s official mascot.

Hiebert said it meant a lot that McPherson College would ask its extended campus family to design the official Bulldog.

“I think it shows a lot of pride in the work,” he said, “and shows a lot of trust in the program.

Both designs by Evan Hiebert were selected into the group of five finalists, which were selected by a 24-person committee of students, faculty, staff and alumni that included cabinet members, coaches, each academic division, alumni board members, student leaders and more.

The three other finalist designs were by Nathan Holthus, senior, McPherson, Kan.; Cord Cunningham ’14, Wichita, Kan.; and Darin Donaho ’08, Denver, Colo.

After the finalists were selected, voting was then opened to all students, faculty, staff and alumni. About 900 people voted online, with Hiebert’s winning design the strong favorite.

Colleen Gustafson, promotions and new media manager, said it was important to the college to involve the MC community in the process of selecting the new Bulldog.

“We wanted to make sure that the people who care the most about the college – our students, faculty, staff and alumni – could actively be part of this portion of our identity,” she said. “We wanted to have all voices heard.”

This is the second Bulldog design created by MC alumni. The previous design was created by Darren Hendricks in 2004, when he was director of communications at the college. The goal was to create an athletic mascot that could also represent the other areas of the college.

The resulting design marked the first time that the college had its own unique mascot design. Previously, the college had made use of different clip art.

The college will soon start phasing in the new design across publications, stationery, websites, and anywhere else McPherson College’s Bulldog appears.