Coppin AI Chatbot

The Opportunity

Coppin University administrators are dedicated, passionate, and busy.
Their day-to-day responsibilities include overseeing admissions, supporting a wide range of student programs, generating reports, allocating resources, and more. One area where Coppin saw potential for Agentic AI was in easing the burden of student, family, and alumni inquiries by guiding users to the information they need. With this in mind, Mindgrub was brought in to help bring this goal to life with several key priorities, including:

• Implement an AI-assisted chatbot capable of responding to text-based queries.
• Add an AI-generated search result for faster answers.
• Ensure all AI answers came from Coppin’s vetted content.
• Overall improvement to the user experience.

Our Services

Artificial Intelligence
Platform Alignment
Quality Assurance
System Integration
UX

Background

Coppin State University has a rich history as a proud Historically Black College and University (HBCU). For over a century, they’ve inspired students from Maryland and beyond to achieve greatness. Mindgrub joined forces with Coppin to create a digital experience that would reflect their educational mission and attract new students. The University worked with Mindgrub to create a seamless, engaging experience that stayed true to their roots and highlighted their academic offerings.

After the successful launch of their website, Coppin returned to Mindgrub for yet another bold initiative: creating an AI agent that could facilitate user questions, concerns, and help them navigate campus life. They wanted an AI chatbot to alleviate common tasks for administrators and create a helpful experience for students, their families, alumni, and more.

Our Approach

Our first step was developing the friendly chatbot persona. Taking inspiration from their beloved eagle mascot, Jackson, Mindgrub and the Coppin team fine-tuned a large language model that would maintain a positive, relaxed, and respectful personality. We trained and tested Jackson’s personality by modeling hypothetical conversations he might have with students, including knowing his birthday and team rivals. Jackson was designed not only to provide answers, but to reflect Coppin’s inclusive and supportive environment in a conversational way. His responses needed to be natural, approachable, and reflect that Coppin State pride.

Next, we provided multiple design options for Jackson’s profile image. One is based on the more friendly mascot with an eagle head, while the other leaned into the duotone of Coppin’s branding with a sketch of a soaring eagle. The Coppin team chose the more approachable mascot version, which fit perfectly with his established personality.

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Controlled AI sourcing for accurate answers

For the Q&A bot, we integrated a smart, dynamic result at the top of the search page. Powered by RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), this search result pulls directly from Coppin’s own website content and other approved sources to deliver accurate and contextually relevant answers in real time, while ignoring external sources.

Robust QA to ensure no AI funny business

With AI comes risks, but by limiting data to approved sources, we were able to minimize rogue answers. However, that doesn’t mean chatbots can’t go off script. By conducting thorough evaluations to ensure Jackson didn’t participate in inappropriate or harmful speech, we added additional guardrails to keep students and campus members safe and increase overall trust.

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A collaborative process with AI at the helm

Mindgrub’s team worked hand-in-hand with Coppin’s staff every step of the way. Whether it was refining content or making design decisions, feedback from Coppin stakeholders was integral to ensuring the AI tools aligned with the university’s mission and branding. By embedding Jackson into the website, users could easily ask questions like, “What majors does Coppin offer?” or “How do I apply for financial aid?” and get answers instantly—like having a personal assistant at their fingertips.

About the Build

There are many ways to integrate an agentic AI bot, and Mingrub made sure to approach Jackson’s creation with Coppin’s staff needs in mind. We accomplished this by:

Building on Microsoft Copilot, a platform that offers flexibility and works in their established eco-system.
Ensuring bot scalability, by allowing it the option to leverage knowledge in established document repositories or student records.
Training the Coppin staff in multiple sessions on maintenance, customizability, and overall functionality.

Now the Coppin team can continue to build on Jackson’s foundation, and find new and emerging ways to integrate his knowledge to help students and users.

Outcomes

The new Agentic AI chat and search functionality now streamlines the student experience on Coppin’s website. Students easily find the information they need, while Coppin’s administrative team can focus on more impactful tasks.

By offering AI tools that help students find information quickly, Coppin’s new site supports recruitment, retention, and academic success. This AI functionality is more than just a feature, it’s a commitment to a modern, student-focused experience.

Coppin State University’s AI chatbot and smart search are just the beginning of their digital journey. By embracing emerging technology, Coppin is always ready for the next phase, and so are we.