Improvements to the Directory

Many of you have told us that you love the new Directory! If you haven’t checked it out yet, the Directory pulls together information about academic departments, campus offices, buildings, and faculty/staff in one place. Better yet, all of the information on the Directory is fed from our institutional database, to ensure updates and accuracy.

There is a “Search the directory” bar at the top of the page, which filters content within the Directory as you type. Today, we’ve rolled out some improvements to the functionality of the Directory search/filter to show more accurate results based on what you type.

So please, check it out, and let us know what you think!
http://www.hope.edu/directory

Training for OU Campus users

Ready to start working on your department or office website? So are we! This month, we will begin connecting with every area of the college to plan, build and launch new sections of the website throughout the academic year.

Here are the steps required for your department or office to get started:

  1. Attend an OU Campus User Training session
  2. Attend a Writing for the Web session
  3. Draft a proposed site map
  4. Schedule a review with Public Affairs and Marketing to begin working on your site

1. OU CAMPUS USER TRAINING

These two-hour sessions will provide an introduction to our content management system, OU Campus, and will give users hands-on training in creating and editing web pages.

User training is required for everyone in your department who will be performing hands-on maintenance of your website. However, space is limited to 20 computers per session; groups from the same department or office will be asked to share a workstation.

UPDATE: Fall registration is now closed. Additional training sessions will be available monthly in the spring semester.

For those who have already registered, the following trainings will take place in Martha Miller Computer Lab 240:

  • Tuesday, September 29, 10 a.m.–noon (FULL — registration is closed)
  • Tuesday, October 20, 1–3 p.m. (FULL — registration is closed)
  • Thursday, November 19, 1:30–3:30 p.m. (FULL — registration is closed)

2. WRITING FOR THE WEB

If you already attended an earlier Writing for the Web session, you do not need to attend again. If you haven’t, please sign up online for one of the following sessions:

  • Tuesday, October 13, 1–2 p.m.
  • Monday, November 2, 2–3 p.m.

Both trainings will take place in DeWitt Herrick Room.

Additional sessions will be available in the spring semester.

3. YOUR PROPOSED SITE MAP

Site maps will be discussed during the Writing for the Web training. A content checklist is available for departments and offices to begin planning.

4. SCHEDULE A REVIEW

Once you’ve completed the first three steps, let us know! We’ll schedule a meeting to review your site map, answer any questions and begin building your website.

Thanks, and please let us know if you have any questions!

Submitting Events to the Public Website Calendar

Our website features a new campus calendar, calendar.hope.edu. Following are some tips and steps to follow to help promote your events.

  1. Begin by making your campus room reservation through EMS (events.hope.edu). Here you can request catering, AV, video services, a specific setup, etc.
  2. In EMS, you can now request to have your event display on the campus calendar.
    “Would you like this event to display on the Hope College public calendar?”
    If so, select Yes.
    Include any descriptive text that should appear on the web in the “Event Details” section of the room reservation.
  3. Approved events typically appear on the campus calendar in 1-2 business days.

TIPS

  • Add your event to the calendar early for maximum visibility.
  • List all of your events on the calendar, even if attendance is not open to the public. If your event is invite-only, however, do not make your calendar listing accessible to the public.
  • Each event has a unique web address that can be shared on social media or linked in an email.
  • Promote your event by adding a custom photo. Email your photo to calendar@hope.edu.
  • List your official off-campus event or events that span multiple days or locations by contacting calendar@hope.edu for details on this process.

QUESTIONS

  • For assistance with room reservations, contact Events & Conferences (events@hope.edu, 616.395.7222).
  • Questions about the campus calendar or edits to events that are already published should be sent to Public Affairs & Marketing (calendar@hope.edu, 616.395.7860).

Many events are already listed in the calendar. Please help us by checking to make sure that your events are listed accurately and let us know about any changes.

Announcing “Stories of Hope”

Dear Hope Community,
I hope your fall semester has gotten off to a spectacular start!

I am writing to let you know about a new Hope blog, “Stories of Hope,” that was launched last week. Focusing on scholarship and innovation here at Hope College, the blog will provide another way to share stories that reflect our academic distinctiveness, as expressed inside and outside the classroom, lab and studio.

We thought you might have questions, so we’ve tried to anticipate and answer a few:

  • Why a blog? Traditionally, Hope has shared its stories through news releases and “News from Hope College.” These are great channels of communication, but often we are able to reach different/expanding audiences more effectively or in a more timely manner through web-based communications. The blog, which can be promoted to wide audiences via social media, will share stories that might not lend themselves to the news release or magazine format.
  • What will the posts look like? Posts on “Stories of Hope” will vary. In some cases, the posts will be feature-length stories. Other times, the posts will be brief pieces that link to news on the Hope website (or other sites). And sometimes, the post might be a video, a single photograph, a book review or a guest-written post. We’ll aim to publish at least one post per week.
  • How can I help? Spread the word! Follow the blog, and share the posts with friends and colleagues via social media, email or your departmental website. “Stories of Hope” will be the most effective when it is broadly read by many audiences. You also can help by sending us your suggestions…
  • How can I suggest a story? You’ve got great story ideas. We want to hear them — and tell them, whether it’s through “Stories of Hope” or another channel! Submit your story ideas to stories@hope.edu. Once the Public Affairs and Marketing team receives your suggestion, we’ll identify the communication mode and timeframe that best fits your story.
  • Why is the blog called “Stories of Hope”? Because, well, we shouldn’t hesitate to tell our story! We believe in our mission: to educate students for lives of leadership and service in a global society through academic and co-curricular programs of recognized excellence in the liberal arts and in the context of the historic Christian faith. And, we believe in the importance of recognizing the work that goes into supporting that mission. “Stories of Hope” will highlight the academic component of our mission, and in doing so, will illustrate how we prepare students to lead, serve and make a difference in the world.

We are excited to hear your ideas and your feedback. Thank you for all you do to bring Hope’s mission to life!

Announcing New Hope Website Launched

We’re thrilled to share with you that the new Hope College website has launched and is now live! The new pages you’re seeing now are “phase one” sections for our initial public launch. These sections cover most of the areas you can access via the main navigation menu on the top of the page.

What you’ll find in the new hope.edu:

  • Fresh new look, feel and functionality
  • Overhaul of site structure and organization
  • Revised content to better address audience needs
  • A fully responsive design that will adapt to the size of whatever device you’re browsing on
  • A new directory that allows you to search departments, offices, buildings and people — all in one place
  • A new events calendar to promote event engagement
  • Lots of social media integration
  • A news section that pulls content from many different sources into one place
  • An online Catalog, you’ll hear more about this from the Registrar’s Office

Now that we’ve launched “phase one,” we will be shifting our focus back to ongoing collaboration with departments and offices. We’ll provide intensive training in the new content management system (CMS), work with our partners throughout campus on finalizing their content, and re-launch every part of our website. This will be an ongoing process throughout the ’15–16 academic year and beyond.

Want to learn more? Please join us for presentation of the new website on Monday, August 17 at 10:30am in Graves Hall Winants Auditorium. We’ll walk through and show off various aspects of the new site. You can also read more at “A Website Retrospective“.

If you stumble on anything that appears to be broken or not working within the new site, please let us know about it at web@hope.edu.

Finally, I want to thank the many people who have helped make this possible. We’re so fortunate to have a campus community filled with so many individuals and departments who work together to make initiatives like this a reality.

Preparing for Phase One

Wow, we’ve come a long way! Looking back on our website redesign timeline (spanning back to Spring of 2013) you can see a lot of ground covered. A new CMS, design partner, focus groups, user personas, site maps, style tiles, page strategies, wireframes, new staff, writing for the web training, employee profiles… and that’s just a small segment!

Want a full recap? See our full website redesign project timeline.

We’re happy to share that we’ve begun the process of building out top tier or “phase one” pages and sections which we plan to launch publicly later this summer. These sections include areas like the homepage, news, events, directory, admissions, research, arts, campus life, about, visit, give, alumni, parents, and the academics homepage.

After the launch of “phase one,” we’ll turn our attention back to working with departments/offices on finalizing their content, providing training in the new CMS (OU Campus), and launching those sections. This will be an ongoing process of working on and launching department sites on a rolling basis throughout the 15-16 academic year.

Although we’ve come a long way, we have much work to do. We look forward to reaching out and working with the many talented departments and offices on campus soon!

Social Media Summer School

Digital StrategyThere’s no doubt the Hope College campus community is well-connected when it comes to social media.

The Office of Public Affairs and Marketing is pleased to host our first Social Media Summer School, a series of 1-hour workshops about social media, offered by our Digital Strategist, Elizabeth Council.

Everyone is invited…

Topics to be covered vary from the basics to advanced marketing techniques. Please note: Additional sessions will be offered during fall and spring semester based upon interest from the campus community. 

 

The beginner’s guide to understanding social media 

June 2, 2–3 p.m.
Maas Center Conference Room
View presentation slides

This session will introduce unique features offered by popular social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of how each channel is used and differs from the others. This session is intended for persons new to, or inexperienced with, social media.

Continue reading “Social Media Summer School”

Spotlighting our faculty and staff

Hope College has awesome people, and we want to tell their stories. All 768 of them.

When planning the new website, we made sure it would showcase the great programs, facilities and students at Hope—but we also wanted to make sure we’re highlighting one of our greatest assets: The faculty and staff who make this community come alive.

Sample Bio PageWe want our faculty and staff information to be accurate and up-to-date when we launch. Most of the specifics (name, title, photo and contact information) will be automatically generated from our database, but we also plan to include a brief write-up that provides additional information about our people and their roles at Hope.

If you work at Hope College—full-time, part-time, faculty, staff, administration, whatever—please take some time to fill out the secure forms below. Or, you can email your information, bio, CV or a draft to Josh Bishop.

Here are some sample pages:

We’ll likely edit all submissions for consistency and style. If we have any follow-up questions, we’ll contact you.

Don’t hesitate to get a hold of us if you have any questions.

Writing for the Web: Resources

We kicked off our Writing for the Web training today with the first of many presentations. More than 40 people attended (of the more than 100 who signed up), and we’re thrilled to see such an enthusiastic response from faculty and staff on campus.

If you’re looking for extra copies for others in your department or office, you can download them here:

Print versions of the Web Content Guidelines, Brand Quick Start Guide and the full Brand Guidelines are available from Public Affairs and Marketing. Just let us know what you need.

We’ve got two more trainings scheduled for next week, and plan to repeat the session on a regular basis as an ongoing resource for the campus community. If you’d like to attend one of the upcoming sessions, sign up today. There’s still plenty of room:

  • Tuesday, March 24, 10 a.m. (Maas Conference Room)
  • Wednesday, March 25, 3 p.m. (Herrick Room)

Writing for the Web

The team here at Public Affairs and Marketing is excited to launch a new training session, Writing for the Web.

One thing we heard from the beginning of the website planning process is that many people on campus would like additional support for writing, editing and updating their department or office website. Some of you feel like you’re out there all alone, working without the tools and resources you need.

We’re going to change that with a series of training and support sessions available for everyone who works on the Hope website.

Writing for the Web will cover:

  • Content strategy
  • Best practices
  • Brand, voice and tone
  • Style and grammar

We’ll also discuss such topics as identifying and writing for your audience(s), as well as how users read web content (hint: they usually don’t)—and why that matters for how you write. Plus, we’ll make available tools that will let you hit the ground running as soon as you’re ready to work on your new web content.

We’re kicking off the training with three sessions:

  • Thursday, March 19, 11 a.m.
  • Tuesday, March 24, 10 a.m.
  • Wednesday, March 25, 3 p.m.

RSVP today for one of the trainings. All of them will be held in the Herrick Room.

Can’t make it? No worries: We’ll be repeating the session on a regular basis for those who can’t attend in March.

Writing for the Web is the first of many training sessions we’re planning for the web content community here at Hope. Stay tuned for more information on other sessions, including an OU Campus user’s guide.