Dear LU Community,
In October, the Communications and Web Development teams announced a redesign of the Lawrence University website. Since this announcement, our teams have been hard at work on the initial stages of this important and comprehensive project. Below is a quick refresher on the scope and goals of the project, an update on our work to date, a list of important upcoming deadlines (please at least read this section), and ways you can help us with the project.
Project Overview
We are currently undertaking a full redesign of the main Lawrence University website, including overall navigation and information architecture, to compete digitally with other schools, better represent the on-campus educational experience, and meet the needs of the internal community. We have allotted roughly a year to this project and plan to launch our new site in fall 2020. The goals of the redesign are to:
- Encourage prospective students to apply and enroll.
- Encourage alumni, parents, and friends to support Lawrence.
- Make daily operations for faculty, staff and current students easier.
- Inform the community about operations and events.
- Inform and delight prospective employees.
To meet these goals, we will:
- Reorganize content for improved discoverability, navigation, and user experience.
- Review all content to ensure it is current, necessary, and compelling.
- Optimize website architecture, technology, and content for improved visibility in search results (e.g., Google).
- Focus the website experience on external constituents (prospective students/families, alumni/donors, campus visitors, prospective employees, news/media).
- Provide a separate, dedicated web experience for Lawrentians (students, faculty, staff).
- Improve data and insights to better inform future spends of time and money.
- Plan for ongoing website maintenance, including potential investments in software and personnel.
Work to Date
The Communications and Web Development teams have spent our first few months on the project focused on back-end content and development work. This work is not easily visible to those outside of the project but is highly important and time-intensive—it provides the foundation for our new website and its success. This work includes content review and organization, including discussions of site navigation, and foundational work on the website’s structure, design, and maintenance. We have established regular meetings of the Web Stakeholders Group (see list of names below), which is charged with representing the interests of primary university offices, departments, and constituent groups during the redesign process. We have also begun meeting with various university offices and departments to discuss content needs. The Stakeholders Group will continue to meet monthly until the redesign is complete, and members of the Communications team will reach out to other offices and departments regarding content in the coming weeks.
Upcoming Deadlines & Items of Note
Because content on our current website will need to be manually migrated to the new website, we are making plans now to ensure a smooth transition. This includes establishing a number of deadlines on content creation and maintenance that will allow us to fully account for all site content during the redesign process. Please note the following deadlines:
- December 21, 2019: web editors will no longer have permissions to create new pages; the process to update pages will continue as usual. Contact Communications if new pages are necessary to conduct university business.
- May 01, 2020: only critical updates to existing pages; updates must be communicated to Communications.
- August 01: no updates to existing content unless there’s an urgent reason; contact Communications to make changes or additions.
We know and appreciate that the work of the university will continue through the redesign process and will work to ensure that these deadlines do not impede our work. We are also working closely with members of the Web Stakeholders Group to understand and account for how content needs intersect with these deadlines. Please contact us (communications@lawrence.edu) if you have any questions about the deadlines or need assistance on the website.
How You Can Help
Even if you aren’t directly involved with the website, there are still ways that you can contribute to this important project!
- Help us understand how you use the current website and what resources you use most by taking this quick survey.
- Volunteer for usability testing. We’re looking for users of all ages, interests, abilities, and levels of experience with technology to help us test ideas for the new site. If you’d be willing to spend 30-40 minutes trying our new concepts and giving us your thoughts, please email communications@lawrence.edu with the subject line “Usability Testing Volunteer.”
- Stay tuned to the LU Insider and your inbox, as well as notifications from members of the Stakeholders Group.
Thank you in advance for your patience and assistance throughout this process. As always, please reach out to communications@lawrence.edu if you have any questions.
Best,
Megan Scott
Associate Vice President of Communication
Web Stakeholders Group
Jaclyn Charais, ACE
Jay Dansand, IT
Chris Fohlin, Consultant
Jody Fraleigh, Student Life
Jaime Gonzalez, Admissions & PCDA
Alison Gunther-Pal, Faculty
Mackenzie Huber, Communications
Kelly Landis, Communications
Katie C. Mills-Erickson, Admissions
Morgen Moraine, Conservatory
Amber Nelson, Development
Matt Schmeltzer, Communications
Claudena Skran, Faculty
Megan Scott, Communications
James Sweetack, IT