ASUSU’s new Web site combines all student resources
One-stop shopping is taking on a whole new meaning for Utah State University students.
The Associated Students of Utah State University launched its new Web site Thursday. “A-station” has been redesigned to be a “one-stop shopping” resource that centralizes all student activities and organizations.
Camey Hatch, ASUSU public relations vice president, is in charge of the new Web site.
“We originally wanted to just redo the ASUSU Web site, but we decided to expand it so that everything you will ever need can be found here,” she said.
“A-station” features more than 200 student-related clubs and organizations, which are listed alphabetically and according to category. Contact information, Web site links and descriptions of the clubs and registration forms are all included.
Jeff Leek, ASUSU science senator, said, “If you’re a student looking for something to do, this is the place to go. This has just about everything students need to find out what’s going on.”
Hatch said, “What I tried to do is look at what was involved. Originally every club, organization and group on campus had their own Web site. A-station combines all those organizations into one-stop shopping that is uniform with USU’s format and connected to their Web site.”
The navigation bar coincides with USU’s Web site to access various venues, including the QUAD, WebMail, libraries, directories and the calendar. Students, faculty and administration can participate in asking and answering questions using the “A-station” forum, which is similar to a chat room.
“This is a new technology, so it’s kind of fun,” Hatch said.
Also, students can advertise parties or events going on throughout campus.
Information regarding the ASUSU Executive Council is available on the site to better inform students about charters and legislation being passed. The home page displays recent activities and the week’s upcoming events, as well as a straw poll on various topics.
“The goal was to make the Web site more user-friendly and centralized. We wanted some way to be distinguished from other Web sites, so that’s why we are calling it ‘A-station,'” Hatch said.
Jay McEntire, “A-station” webmaster and a senior majoring in business information systems, said, “I have worked on a lot of Web sites throughout campus, and this is by far the best Web site. We’re really happy about it.”
The Web site would cost $20,000 on the market, but it was done on a $5,000 budget, he said.
McEntire and Omar Salas, designer of the site and graduate from USU in graphic design, were asked to head the project over the summer. The site began running online Thursday after four months of work.
“Basically, I designed the look and feel and how it will be formatted,” Salas said.
Hatch said, “We’re not Web site professionals, so we had to hire someone to get the results we wanted.”
In the past, the ASUSU Web site was changed annually by the incoming council, delaying its completion.
“We wanted something that didn’t have to be changed every year,” Hatch said. “I looked at other universities’ Web sites and got a feel of what I didn’t like. This is the first drastic change we have had on this Web site for a long time, and we took a totally different approach.”
Previous webmasters were the only ones who knew how to update the ASUSU Web site.
McEntire said, “We wanted to use a lot of creativity and make it easy to update with little or no maintenance. Changes can be made right from the browser.
Content can be added without using a program or coding. The Web site is database-driven. All the contents are on a server and not in HTML format. Salas said the site is a great tool for students, and there has already been a major change in the number of students navigating it.
Hatch said, “I love it. I’m excited about the possibilities it has.”
“A-Station” can be found at http://a-station.usu.edu/. Old URLs for ASUSU will automatically reroute users to this site.
-mmackay@cc.usu.edu