February 21, 2003 Feature
Story
Utah
State Administrators Go Virtual: Meet the Deans in Cyberspace
 A
new feature on Utah State's web site is part of a greater effort
to personalize the accomplishments and strengths of the university,
in this case through the eyes — and voices — of
all the deans.
The "Meet the Deans" web page allows people to hear
and see two- to three-minute video clips from each of the college
deans. The deans open the doors to their colleges' highlights
in the classroom, in the research lab and in the world. You
can catch their vision and the vision of their colleges by clicking
their pictures, displayed on the page, and watching a short
video of them.
"The project is part of a larger plan to put a face and
a voice on Utah State's many highlight areas," said Renee
Payne, director of University Marketing. "We wanted to
personalize the colleges for people, to swing open the doors
so people could see inside."
She said the "Meet the Deans" videos are part of an
ongoing campaign to put a face on all of the faculty, starting
with the leadership but continuing on through the ranks to highlight
the major accomplishments in teaching, research and community
service in each of the colleges.
 Charles
Thompson, university webmaster and a coordinator of the project,
said that one of the initial objectives of the "Meet the
Deans" page was to help both prospective students and current
students understand the personality and vision of each college
from the dean's perspective. With student recruitment in mind,
Thompson tried to spice up the page design to appeal to younger,
internet-savvy users.
"But after completing the project, we found that we had
a great way to feature the colleges not just to students, but
to alumni, our faculty and staff, and the community as well,"
he said. "The deans gave us a lively look at the personalities
of their colleges, and I think the videos do a great job of
telling people how many great things we have going on at Utah
State."
Payne and Thompson said most of the work on the project was
completed as part of an internship project by undergraduate
students from the Department of Journalism and Communication,
and University Media Productions staff oversaw the technical
components of the project.
To go ahead and meet the deans, simply visit their page at
http://www.usu.edu/deans/
and click around a bit. Their college perspectives and vision
are all there in real time.
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