President's Update - October 20, 2004 - www.fdu.edu

Dear Colleagues,

The World Wide Web continues to grow in importance in all our lives … sometimes I wonder how we got along without it. The Fairleigh Dickinson University Web site has grown in recent years from a few dozen pages to a few thousand pages. The site offers a wealth of information for those within and outside the University community. Its incredible growth, though, has up until now prevented a comprehensive review of our design and navigation system.

These elements needed to be addressed, particularly because the Web is becoming such a significant recruitment tool. The majority of high school seniors as well as prospective graduate students begin their college search online. If they cannot find quickly what they are looking for, they may give up and look elsewhere. So the saying “you only make a first impression once” applies well to online recruiting.

Earlier this week we unveiled a new and improved first impression for Internet users. We completed a comprehensive redesign, introduced a new navigation system and implemented a content management tool that provides both consistency and flexibility.

Our Web Review Committee, chaired by College at Florham Interim Provost Kenneth Greene, selected a consultant with proven non-profit and education industry experience to complete these crucial one-time projects. Working closely with Greene, University Webmaster William Kennedy and Associate Vice President for Communications and Marketing Art Petrosemolo, Ripple Effects Interactive, based in Pittsburgh, Pa., designed the new look and converted site pages to the new content management system.

The content management concept, proven by the thousand-page success of FDU’s own locally developed Pagetoaster content management tool, enables individuals and offices to update their pages themselves, freeing our Web operations staff for development of new and enhanced Web-site features, both for external audiences and for the FDU community.

In addition to content authors who create and update pages, departments and offices will assign “content managers” to approve pages before they are posted. Web Operations is providing ongoing support and training to individuals in both these roles to ensure a smooth transition.

The Web Review Committee will now — with additional members —serve as the Web Governance Committee, chaired by Interim Provost Greene. It will continue to review and recommend Web policies.

Please join me in thanking all who participated in the review, the REI focus groups, the content preparation and other tasks in this development. The team’s progress has been quite impressive. We should be very proud of the new www.fdu.edu

Thank you,
Michael Adams