Redesigning Department Websites: A Strategic Approach

The Department Website Challenge

Academic departments are strange organizational units. They're semi-autonomous entities within a larger institution, serving multiple audiences who want very different things. A chemistry department website needs to recruit prospective students, support current students, showcase faculty research, and serve the broader academic community—often with limited resources and inconsistent content governance.

Redesigning these sites requires balancing competing interests while maintaining institutional brand coherence. Get it wrong, and you end up with either a cookie-cutter site that doesn't serve the department's needs or a rogue site that confuses users expecting university consistency.

Understanding Your Audiences

Department sites serve distinctly different user groups:

Prospective Students

What they want:

• Clear program information (degrees, requirements, outcomes)
• Evidence of student success (careers, graduate school placement)
• Faculty expertise and approachability
• Research and experiential opportunities
• Campus life and department culture
• How to apply and what to expect

Current Students

What they need:

• Course schedules and registration information
• Advising contacts and procedures
• Forms, policies, and deadlines
• Internship and job opportunities
• Research assistant positions
• Student organization information

Faculty and Researchers

What they look for:

• Research group information
• Publication and grant information
• Collaboration opportunities
• Lab and facility information
• Conference and seminar schedules

The Prioritization Decision

You can't optimize equally for all audiences. Most department sites should prioritize:

1. Prospective students (enrollment impact)
2. Current students (service obligation)
3. External researchers (reputation/recruitment)
4. Internal faculty (they have other channels)

Content Strategy First

Design follows content, not the other way around. Before any visual design:

Content Audit

Assess what exists:

• Inventory all current pages and content types
• Identify high-traffic pages (analytics data)
• Flag outdated content (look for old dates, broken links)
• Note content that exists elsewhere (main site, LMS, catalog)
• Identify gaps (what's missing that users need)

Essential Content Types

Most department sites need:

• Program pages: Degree descriptions, requirements, outcomes
• Faculty directory: Profiles, research interests, contact info
• Course information: Descriptions, schedules, or links to catalog
• Research highlights: Labs, projects, publications
• Student resources: Forms, advising, opportunities
• News/events: Department happenings (if maintained)
• Contact/location: How to reach the department

Content Governance

Decide before launch:

• Who creates new content?
• Who approves content changes?
• Who maintains ongoing accuracy?
• What content review schedule exists?
• What happens when someone leaves?

Information Architecture

How content is organized determines whether users find what they need:

Common Navigation Patterns

1. Audience-based

   Organize by user type (Prospective Students, Current Students, Faculty, etc.). Clear but can lead to duplicate content.

2. Topic-based

   Organize by subject (Programs, Research, People, Resources). More common and usually works well.

3. Hybrid

   Topic-based primary navigation with audience pathways highlighted on homepage or landing pages.

Recommended Structure

A typical effective structure:

• About: Department overview, mission, history, facilities
• Programs: Degrees, minors, certificates, requirements
• People: Faculty, staff, graduate students
• Research: Labs, projects, publications, resources
• Students: Resources, advising, opportunities, organizations
• News & Events: If actively maintained
• Contact: Location, hours, key contacts

Homepage Strategy

The homepage should:

• Immediately communicate what the department does
• Highlight what makes this department distinctive
• Provide clear paths to major content areas
• Feature dynamic content if regularly updated (news, events)
• Include calls to action for prospective students

Faculty Profiles Done Right

Faculty profiles are crucial for recruitment and research visibility:

Essential Profile Elements

• Professional photo (consistent style across department)
• Title and contact information
• Research interests (in accessible language)
• Teaching areas
• Education and credentials
• Selected publications or portfolio
• Lab/research group affiliation

Profile Maintenance Challenge

Faculty profiles are notoriously hard to keep current:

• Create simple update process (form, not CMS access)
• Schedule annual review reminders
• Pull publication data from institutional repository if possible
• Accept that some profiles will be incomplete

What Prospective Students Want

Research shows students care about:

• Research they could be involved in
• Faculty approachability (photos matter)
• Teaching quality indicators
• Mentorship availability

Template vs. Custom Approach

Most institutions use templates for department sites. Here's how to make them work:

Template Benefits

• Brand consistency across departments
• Reduced development and maintenance costs
• Easier content migration and updates
• Shared improvements benefit all departments
• Simpler training for content editors

Template Limitations

• May not accommodate unique content types
• Departments feel constrained
• One-size-fits-all rarely fits all
• Limited ability to highlight distinctiveness

Flexible Template Design

Good templates include:

• Configurable homepage layouts
• Multiple content block options
• Department-specific color accents (within brand)
• Optional sections that can be enabled/disabled
• Ability to add custom pages for unique needs

The Redesign Process

A structured approach prevents common pitfalls:

1. Discovery and stakeholder alignment

   Gather requirements from all stakeholder groups. Align on goals, priorities, and constraints before any design work begins.

2. Content audit and strategy

   Inventory existing content. Identify what to keep, update, merge, or retire. Define content governance.

3. Information architecture

   Design site structure and navigation. Test with card sorting or tree testing with actual users.

4. Wireframes and prototypes

   Create low-fidelity layouts before visual design. Focus on content priority and user flows.

5. Visual design

   Apply brand standards to approved wireframes. Define department-specific elements within brand guidelines.

6. Content creation and migration

   Write new content. Migrate and update existing content. This takes longer than expected—plan accordingly.

7. Development and testing

   Build the site. Test functionality, accessibility, and performance. User acceptance testing with stakeholders.

8. Launch and training

   Deploy the site. Train content editors. Establish ongoing maintenance processes.

9. Post-launch optimization

   Monitor analytics. Gather feedback. Make iterative improvements.

Measuring Success

Define success metrics before launch:

Recruitment Metrics

• Application requests from site visitors
• Information request form submissions
• Program page engagement (time on page, scroll depth)
• Traffic from prospective student sources

User Experience Metrics

• Bounce rate on key pages
• Task completion rates (if measurable)
• Internal search queries (indicating navigation issues)
• Exit pages (where users leave)

Content Health Metrics

• Content freshness (last updated dates)
• Broken link counts
• Page views by content section
• Content editor activity

Making It Stick

A redesign is only successful if the site stays useful over time:

• Train multiple content editors: Don't create single points of failure
• Document content standards: What voice, what length, what formatting
• Schedule regular reviews: Quarterly content audits prevent decay
• Establish update triggers: New faculty, program changes, etc.
• Plan for iteration: Launch isn't the end; it's the beginning

The best department websites aren't the flashiest—they're the ones that consistently serve users with accurate, current information. Invest in sustainability, not just launch.