Project Cal U: Extreme Website Makeover
Christine Russell, Director of Web Services, California University of Pennsylvania
In an era when public financial support for state-owned higher education has shown steep declines, California University of Pennsylvania has dramatically reshaped its campus, its image and its website. In just 10 years, $250 million was invested in capital improvements, transforming the entire campus. In 2004-2005, Cal U launched a bold branding campaign to highlight its distinctive mission of Building Character, Building Careers. Beginning in 2007, the University boosted the quality of its communications tools, including publications and advertising. Last year, attention shifted to the website.
The university wanted the new website to showcase the campus while meeting the needs of prospective students and the campus community. So it was out with the old and in with the new: They gutted the old, outdated site and constructed a new one from the ground up. Recognizing that the end user rules, they began a year-long site redesign process by conducting focus groups with 19 of the University’s most important constituencies. They heard repeated requests for a website that showcased the campus, involved extensive use of social media, and highlighted the many events offered to the students. With that in mind, they launched the site in January 2010, and it has received rave reviews.
This presentation will provide an overview of the process Cal U used to complete its website redesign project successfully, highlighting the unique ways they utilized Hannon Hill's Cascade Server to meet the goals that arose from focus group sessions and other groundwork activities. Discussion topics will include the site’s interactive virtual tour; redistribution of faculty biographies to department, program and other web pages; redistribution of news and events to any page throughout the site; and brief descriptions of their Hannon Hill-specific templates, including those that allow any of their end users to create photo and video slideshows with ease.