Monday, Apr. 08, 2013
February 28, 2012
John B. checks out Stetson Today.
Welcome to Stetson Today, the new website designed to serve as a single information source for all that is Stetson University! In a world where people need news and information faster and more consistently than ever before, Stetson has formed this new website, taking into consideration audience segment needs, along with industry research and best practices. We’ve modeled this site following the lead of several of America’s top colleges and universities to stay relevant and make Stetson information more accessible to you.
Stetson Today is much more than a news site; it’s events, images, stories, news, announcements, video, entertainment and much more. Stetson Today comes out of an eight-month process of focus group meetings with various constituencies tasked with determining how we could improve Hatter communications. Until now, the Intranet provided special tools for Stetson’s internal community. Faculty, students and staff will continue to find Blackboard, My Stetson, email access and the A-Z Index—features formerly on the Intranet—in a toolbar at the top of the front page. Other internal features are listed in the drop-down menu in Quick Links. Internal campus announcements will be visible only to the Stetson community. The online university calendar will continue to be accessible to everyone.
Why are we doing this?
Stetson Today provides a broader platform for Stetson news and feature stories, resulting in a more informed and engaged community. Members of our community now have a quick resource for finding out what’s happening on campus. It also consolidates our news feeds, giving Stetson more visibility externally.
How it works
Stetson Today is organized like a news magazine where you can read news quickly or leisurely enjoy special features on SU alumni, students, faculty, staff, academic programs and athletics. It draws from existing news releases, magazine stories, campus newsletters and other sources that are compiled and categorized for your convenience. It gives more visibility to photos and videos of current events, academic programs and campus life. Readers will be able to subscribe to RSS feeds for topics they’re interested in particularly.The six searchable sections include:
A tip of the Stetson hat to everyone who worked hard to make this vision a reality! We invite you to explore this new website and see what makes Stetson University the very special place it is. With Stetson Today as a growing worldwide landmark of our collective story, we can all dare to be significant together!
Visit Stetson Today at http://www.stetson.edu/stetsontoday.
» More
How do we get to the public site from on campus. There use to be a hot button to take us there?
Bill, good question. Simply click on the “Stetson University” logo in the upper left hand corner of Stetson Today to get you to the public Internet home page for Stetson University.
Love this website! It’s easy to navigate and has interesting information in each category. Excellent!
I have some mixed feelings, when it comes to the design of the page. The top part section where the top stories are, and the list of events look great. However, the announcements section and featured photo section, as well as the content below looks a little messy to me. Maybe it is the asymmetrical columns that bothers my eyes. It seems a bit cluttered.
Other than that, I think the concept is wonderful.
How do I submit an announcement?
This is better than the old intranet but it needs to be pushed forward in a couple of ways.
First, it is not the public face of Stetson. To reflect the state of the art in university web sites Stetson Today needs to merge with the web page that everyone sees. Tufts is still the most elegant one out there.
Second, Stetson Today has categories that do not fully represent the University: Business=Business, Law & Justice=Law, Science & Tech=Sciences, Arts & Ent= Music and the Off Center. So what happened to humanities and social sciences? There doesn’t seem to be a category for these important components of the intellectual life of the University.
Just go to ANNOUNCEMENTS on Stetson Today, and click on ADD ANNOUNCEMENT. Just follow the instructions on that electronic form–the same form we used for submitting campus announcements on the Intranet.
Where do I go to make a room reservation?
@Pamela: It’s under “A-Z Index” up top and then listed as “Room and Venue Request Form”. To save you some time, the direct URL is:
https://secure.stetson.edu/forms2/marketing/roomrequest/
Hope this helps some!