Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – The University of Maine at Presque Isle has created a new Web site to better serve faculty, staff, students and community members seeking information about everything from courses to activities taking place at the campus.
“A Web site is one of the most effective ways to interact with the community at large,” said Dr. Michael Sonntag, vice president of academic affairs.
The bulk of the work on the new site was done over the summer, said Sonntag.
“It was organized logically,” Sonntag said. “We had visitors in mind when in creating it.”
Information was combined from old sites when updating. The result was a clean, organized online viewing experience.
Campus officials said a Web site can be an important tool for attracting new students.
“My appreciation for the Web site came during a recent discussion with a student from India. She said she got interested in UMPI through the Internet,” said Don Zillman, president of UMPI. “Communities range in so many directions – Aroostook County, coastal – the educational community we serve.”
Zillman said the site “calls to people’s attention things they may not have known prior to jumping on the Web site. It attracts them to take a class or attend an event.”
This is phase one, said Zillman.
“We’re adding in bells and whistles as we continue to upgrade in phase two,” said Zillman, indicating work continues on the site, with new elements added regularly.
During a recent meeting, Rachel Rice, UMPI’s media relations coordinator, gave a preview of how the site functions and what it has to offer.
“It includes a news blog – a visually exciting way for us to tell what’s happening at the university,” said Rice, noting the goal was to make the site “user friendly.”
Efforts were made to create a simple-to-use format that visitors can navigate with ease.
“Clicking on the logo always takes you back to the home page,” Rice continued. “There are what we call ‘bread crumbs’ at the top of the site so you always know where you are.”
Visitors to the new portal arrive at the home page that features a slide show that includes a list of coming events, as well as a variety of new links – one of which is the Community Offering link, a detailed listing of programs made available to the public by UMPI.
“Our Web site is one of the most important places where we can interact with our community at large. It’s where we as a University can show who we are. We wanted to do that in a simple, straight-forward way,” said Sonntag. “What we’ve really done here is organize our site in a much more user-friendly format and gave it a fresh, new look.”
Check out the new site at www.umpi.edu.
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
UMPI’S NEW WEB SITE up and running – Rachel Rice, UMPI’s media relations coordinator, gives an overview of the University’s new Web site. While much of the site is now operational, work continues with updates made regularly. To check out the site, visit www.umpi.edu.
