University Unveils New Online Community and Advancement Website
Alumni and friends of UMass Boston will find that their electronic “home” has been transformed. This new online community is now available to all graduates of UMass Boston, Boston State College, and Boston State’s predecessors. The community, which is shared with the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Lowell, and Worcester campuses, enables alumni to create a personal profile and search for friends and classmates using a password-protected online directory.
The network also offers alumni the opportunities to submit class notes, post resumes, text, and pictures for fellow alumni to search, and job-search at an online career center; it also provides a free, permanent email forwarding address. “Graduates are thrilled with the new capabilities of the network,” says Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni Relations Joe DeMedeiros. “The community is win-win for them and UMass. Our alumni now have a tremendous tool to deepen connections with classmates and build new relationships with alumni who share common interests. UMass has a vastly improved opportunity to partner with our alumni to forge new alliances through this powerful platform.”
In parallel fashion, the Office of University Advancement has mounted a new homepage that offers alumni and friends a dynamic encounter with myriad opportunities for supporting the university through philanthropy and volunteerism. “As UMass Boston forges ahead to achieve the goals of its strategic and master plans, University Advancement’s homepage provides concrete avenues for the community’s participation,” says Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Darrell C. Byers.
www.umb.edu/ua has fresh information on the impact of university giving, ways to get involved through advisory boards and giving societies, and partnerships available to corporations and foundations. It also showcases the dramatic impact of philanthropic investment, from seeding new research programs to offering life-changing opportunities through financial aid support.
The site was created by Assistant Vice Chancellor Nan Cormier in collaboration with the Information Technology Department. University Advancement used the university’s “template” to design its site which both facilitates a unified UMass Boston image and makes web editing easier. “I.T. made the process almost fool-proof,” says Cormier. “They offered tremendous creative and technical expertise, but what’s more, I.T. staff were gentle educators on some of the more complex technical issues related to web design,” she adds.
Lisa Link, web designer, says the project was the largest administrative site redesign she has supported at UMass Boston. “It was thrilling to see a department embrace the state-of-the-art communication tools that web design makes possible. We hope others will follow U.A.’s example and collaborate with us.”