Adrian College launches new adrian.edu website
Posted Monday, January 30, 2023
Author: Mickey Alvarado
It took two years and a whole lot of innovative work from a combined team of marketing and web design experts, but Adrian College successfully launched its new, secure, interactive adrian.edu website this month.
Adrian College’s Marketing and Public Relations Department began transferring data from its old, outdated website, created in 2012, to the newly launched website at the end of 2020. Technology advanced significantly during those years and Adrian College’s website became outdated and was unsecure. Now, Adrian College’s website is completely secure, and has all the new bells and whistles available to users. The website will also be able to keep up with new advancements by incorporating improved features in the future.
Current Adrian College Marketing Director Claire Simpson took over the new website project last April, and led the creative team to the new look and feel sought after by the college’s administration. Simpson said it was hard for her to select any one best feature because so many have been added.
“There are a ton of new features that I’m excited about,” Simpson said. “The mobile friendly aspect, I think, will make a big difference. The site is easy to navigate, and the high-quality photos and video will make the new website really stand out to visitors. I think we’ve reached our goal in creating a good feel for Adrian College.”
Simpson said time management was key to finally launching the new site, especially over the past three months. In addition to gathering input from the college’s senior leadership, Simpson and her staff attended multiple meetings with program directors and their department staff to ensure their webpages would accurately reflect what was being offered. She also worked hand in hand with FORM, the digital-first creative agency that designed the integrated website.
“I don’t think I could have done it without my marketing team,” she said. “There are only three of us in the department, but they really picked up my slack by taking on other projects that I would normally do, so I could make my primary focus the new website.”
Adrian College Vice President of Enrollment and Student Affairs, Frank Hribar, oversaw the project and said he wanted to make sure the new website represented the high-quality look and feel Adrian College has come to be known for.
“One of the first things visitors read when getting to our new website’s landing page is the statement, ‘A Culture of Innovation.’ We feel those simple words summarize the type of educational institution Adrian College is known for,” Hribar said. “Adrian College is also known for how immaculate and stunning our grounds are. Parents and students commonly say that is one of the reasons they come to Adrian. We want them to get the same feel for our campus when they are online using our new website. We also wanted it to be easily navigated, easy for anyone to use.”
One of the biggest changes was making the https://www.adrian.edu/ website secure. The “s” in “https” stands for secure, which indicates that the site is using a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate. This lets users know that all of their communication and data is encrypted as it passes from their browser to the website’s server.
“With the old website, we received a lot of feedback from our Development Department and donors who were not comfortable providing personal information online through our site, saying it was a problem for them,” Simpson said. “Now we have a site that is secure and protects all of that personal information.”
Simpson has been rolling out the website’s new capabilities recently on social media and the improvements include a large list of new, improved features.
- A “Header Alert” banner to communicate updates quickly to the viewer.
- Mobile-friendly display for seamless viewing on different media devices
- RSS feed capability to stay up to date on articles and social media posts
- New Enrollment Management implementation for online applications, requesting information and other admission related needs and materials
- Search or filter by degree, program and/or field of study to find an undergraduate or graduate program that best suits the student's needs
- Integrated chat feature for easy access to professional librarians
- Seamless access to the library’s digital resources from on or off campus with the ability to easily change display language and font size
- High resolution photo and video capability for an authentic feel of campus
- Net Price Calculator tool allowing students to calculate how much college is likely to cost them at Adrian College
- Interactive Campus Map allows the user to explore campus and utilize features such as satellite view, zoom and detail of facilities, including photos/videos
- Archived press releases and articles dating back to 2018, searchable by year
Simpson said her staff will be addressing any issues or glitches that come up over the next few weeks, but expects a smooth transition from the old site to the new.
“I’m relieved, and also fairly emotional about the launch, because this was my first really big project as a director,” Simpson said. “I’m excited, because when I was a student here the old adrian.edu website is the one I was using, and that’s been years now. So, the fact that we still had that old website gives me a big sense of accomplishment that we were able to actually launch a completely updated website that will be used for years to come.”
