“Happenings @ UMB” Column New to University Home Page
University
Reporter 
Institute
for Community Inclusion, A National Center,
To Move To UMass Boston
Russert
to Speak at Commencement
Fulbright
Scholar Aids
Environmental Management in China
WUMB
Debuts New Station at WNEF 91.7
Educator
Inspires Beacon Leadership Students
Technology-Enhanced
Classrooms Open for Spring Semester
Reality
Check Conference Examines Gap Between Income and Housing Costs
“Happenings
@ UMB” Column New to University Home Page
Center
for Social Policy Researchers Recognized for Work on Issues of Homelessness
in America
Celebrating
Black History Month: How Academics and Athletics Led to Success
Best
Practices: Nursing Students Connecting with Communities
Annual
“Teaching for Transformation” Conference Held at University
Revealing
and Celebrating a Great Poet
PeopleSoft:
Where in the World is Becky Hsu?
By
Joe Peters
The UMass Boston Web site greeted 2002 with a great new look and design. Plans to change the home page started many months ago to meet one of Chancellor Jo Ann Gora’s communications goals to highlight university activities. A major objective was the addition of a “happenings” column to alert the UMass Boston community to important dates and events. A few technical hurdles had to be addressed to hook that column to a calendar-like system. The department originally hoped to unveil a new home page during the fall semester, but striking the right balance between something new and something familiar, while still easy to use, took longer than expected.
Faculty, staff, and students will likely recognize the aerial image and its links to the main categories of the Web site. However, to accommodate the new “happenings” column and still keep the home page small enough to fit on most computer monitors, the image was reduced slightly. New search features were added to the home page to make it easier for visitors to find information and people, and an alphabetized list of important links was added as well. Visitors also can find a link to the UMass Online Web site on the home page, right next to the links to the other UMass campuses.
The events listed on the home page are gathered from the academic calendar and other items submitted to University Communications. Generally, the featured events relate to campus-wide issues. A listing of all known events happening on campus can still be found on the site’s “News and Events” page.
In the coming months, Web Services plans some subtler changes to the other 9,000 pages on the main Web site. With the new campus center moving right along, the department has already penciled in another redesign of the home page for when the center opens and the campus gains a new look.