[279] MTSU Launches New Home Page Redesign Feb. 1

Release date: Jan. 29, 2010


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
IT contact: Barbara Draude, 615-904-8383 or bdraude@mtsu.edu
Marketing & Communications contact: Dr. Tonjanita Johnson, 615-494-7800
or tljohnso@mtsu.edu


MTSU Launches New Home Page Redesign Feb. 1


(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU is “counting down to the new look” for its Internet presence, university officials said, noting that the change will be a different look for the first time in three years.
University officials are hopeful the new design at www.mtsu.edu will be unveiled Monday, Feb. 1, Tonjanita L. Johnson and Barbara Draude said.
“Everything's on track (for the Feb. 1 unveiling),” said Draude, assistant vice president for academic and instructional technologies, adding that a “T-minus X days and counting” countdown has been in place on the Web site since Jan. 4.
Draude said if all goes well with the final processes of the redesign, the new-look www.mtsu.edu site should be available by 8 a.m. Monday.
“We’re been pretty much on schedule,” said Johnson, associate vice president for the Office of Marketing and Communications and a member of the redesign committee.
An improved search mechanism will be one of the many features of the redesign.
“The search mechanism will be licensed through Google and offer better search capabilities,” Johnson said.
Draude said the “I’m One” aspect of the current home page and a two-year MTSU marketing campaign “will still be a component of the new site, but not as prominent. And we’ll be able to expand to other areas on campus. We feature five students (and students who became alumni) now. The redesign “will feature one person, but it can spotlight more than just students.”
In a message Thursday to the MTSU community, Lucinda Lea, vice president for the Division of Information Technology and chief information officer, said, “More than just a cosmetic change to the home page, this process has involved reviewing the message, branding, content and navigation of the mtsu.edu domain. In conjunction with efforts to move existing campus Web sites into the official content management system, the redesign process has resulted in a unified presentation that provides a revitalized look for MTSU, along with improved Web site navigation and searching ability.”
Lea added that ITD’s Web applications team has converted more than 300 sites an excess of 5,000 pages to the new look since the new design was approved in December.
Maine-based CampusTours Inc., an interactive media and software company that created the virtual tour unveiled in August, is working again with the committee on the redesign of the MTSU home page.

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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.

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