Department Websites

When times are tough it is useful to set yourself up for better times that will eventually come.  One thing departments at PUI and MCU campuses can do now at little cost is to make their websites better recruiting tools.  Not just for recruiting students, but for recruiting faculty when the freeze thaws.

If you advertise a position in a department which is not well known there are few better places for candidates to find out the true nature of a program than by looking at the website.  Similarly, if want to cut through the spin to know what your department really values, look at your website.

Is the mission and vision of the department clearly presented?  If you are in a time of transition, is there a strategic plan available?

If your department values scholarly activity, how is it evidenced?  Are research programs described?  Are outcomes celebrated with presentations or publication lists?  Are the lists less than two years old?  Are there pictures of people working in research labs and/or figures taken from papers and used to break up the web text?  In your listings of facilities (if you don't have one you are not recruiting faculty) have you separated out research equipment from the general teaching lab stuff, or are pH meters listed?  Do you have a seminar program list that shows more than your students giving seminars?

If your department values students and student outcomes, how is this evidenced?  Do you describe post graduation careers for students, perhaps even listing graduate programs and employers of recent graduates?  Do the activities of your Student Affiliate of the ACS have their own space?  Are there pictures showing the community of scholars that your department is?  Pictures from the annual Mole Day/National Chemistry Week activities, picnics, holiday gatherings, graduation, students standing by their posters at professional meetings, etc.

Does the page show outreach?  Aside from pictures of the student affiliate at elementary and middle schools, are the newsletters archived?  Is there a page listing the annual awards given to students and telling how people can donate to the corpus of the award accounts.  Is your development plan spelled out, with an invitation to donate to T.S. Hall Chair endowment.

If you have a MS program, is there more than the normal course advising and course description stuff?  Are MS student career outcomes shown?  Are the MS students celebrated with their own awards and research scholarships?

Lastly, the college website should mirror the department one.  It should be up to date and should also show what is valued in the programs.  For the benefit of the candidate Retention, Tenure, and Promotion documents and the Faculty Handbook should be available on the Academic Affairs website.  If you value scholarly activity the Research Office website should make clear how they aid faculty is securing grants and contracts.

It will take time to get all this together and make your website a better recruiting tool, so do it now while you are not able to do searches.  That way it will be up and working for you when the thaw comes.

T.S. Hall