We are excited to share with the Bucknell community that the Division of Communications, in partnership with various colleagues across campus, has begun the process of redesigning the University website. As with the vast majority of college and university websites, bucknell.edu is a gateway to the University for many of its various audiences. We strive to ensure it remains relevant, attractive, easy to use and, above all, authentic. The website should convey the spirit and myriad strengths of Bucknell to prospective students and employees, current students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends. Regular review of the site’s appeal and utility is essential to ensure we are clearly communicating the Bucknell story to all of our audiences. The scope of this update is vast, and we are pleased to share with you a brief introduction to the redesign process.
During the past three months, we have reviewed nearly 20 proposals from digital firms across the country. From this pool of vendors, we identified four outstanding finalists with exciting ideas for the evolution of our website design. An advisory group with representatives from across campus evaluated proposals from those four vendors, and helped identify the firm with which we plan to partner. The selection committee includes Andy Hirsch, chief communications officer; Heather Johns, director of content strategy; Ryan LeBreton, senior associate director of digital communications; Lisa Scott, director of operations & special projects; Kenny Mineart, assistant professor of chemical engineering; Denelle Brown, associate dean of students for diversity; Josh Grill, executive director of alumni relations; Mihai Banciu, associate dean of faculty and associate professor of management; Karen Castle, associate dean of faculty and professor of chemistry; Daniel Mancusi, assistant director of development, L⁢ and Joshua Wilkinson, associate director of admissions for communications. We will share more about the firm once the details of the partnership are finalized.
In addition to redesigning the website, we’ve asked the firms to evaluate our web governance structure and look for opportunities to allow more flexibility in how we maintain the more than 11,000 pages within the bucknell.edu site. We will share more on that as details are available. Our on-campus discovery work will soon begin, and we will provide a number of opportunities for the campus community to provide input into the project throughout the process. We anticipate launching the new site in summer 2019.
We recognize that this is a significant undertaking that impacts many of our colleagues and students. We want to thank you in advance for your contributions to this important project, which will firmly establish the By Way of Bucknell brand throughout our digital presence and further distinguish the University’s identity in the increasingly competitive higher education market. Please return to this blog to read regular updates on our progress. We welcome questions and comments at communications@bucknell.edu.