Health Science Center's New Webmaster Working on Intranet

Redesigned public site and content management system also set to launch later this year

Although not new to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Jennifer Canup is now putting her years of experience in Web development to use as the new Director of University Web Communications.

Jennifer Canup

Canup has worked for the UT Health Science Center for 15 years, the last seven managing the university's top tier Web pages and other high profile institutional Web sites. As the director of university Web communications, she will coordinate Web activities for the health science center. Her role includes strategic planning, Web policy structuring, development of an intranet, and administration of a Web content management system.

"The top goals and priorities are redesigning the university's public face and segregating public and internal content," Canup said. "We'll have an intranet, the first campus-wide intranet, and it will declutter our public site."

Canup noted that by removing internal content, such as forms frequently used by employees, policies, procedures, etc., the public site would become a greater marketing tool.

"The creation of an intranet will give us the ability to focus the public site on recruiting students and the best faculty, as well as showcasing the fabulous research and clinical expertise we have here," Canup added.

Vice President and Chief Information Officer Rick Miller said, "the creation of the Webmaster position, the adoption of a Web content management system and the creation of an intranet are the three most important (and overdue) initiatives that will define the university's public face on the internet since UT Houston launched its first Web page."

Usability testing for the intranet is complete and final design modifications are being made to prepare the site for launch later this year. The project is part of a coordinated effort to rollout the intranet, redesigned public site and a content management system simultaneously.

The content management system will help Web developers university-wide share content, create reports on site traffic and even set up reminders to update or review content at preset intervals.

"Instead of having to learn how to program a Web page, users will be able to use intuitive software with templates designed in a consistent style and format to blend with the entire health science center Web site," Canup explained. "While the templates will create a more uniform look, users will be offered some leeway and room for creative ways to present content."

Each school will have designated personnel to coordinate the content management implementation for that school.

As director of university Web communications, Canup also is responsible for Web policies and will chair the Web Technology Subcommittee.

By Wendy K. Mohon, Institutional Advancement

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