UC Launches Retooled Website

In keeping with its efforts to improve student online resources, the Undergraduate Council launched a new website last week that will serve as a unified portal for the UC’s web initiatives.

UC Vice President Eric N. Hysen ’11 said the UC’s new website will consolidate its web presence, which was previously spread over the old UC website, the UC Juicy Blog, Twitter, and Facebook. The site will also provide easy access to other sites relevant to Harvard life—including Harvard’s online marketplace Crimson List and the new Harvard Courses application organized by Computer Science 50 lecturer David J. Malan ’99.

Hysen and UC President Johnny F. Bowman ’11 have made improving the UC’s online presence one of the hallmarks of their administration, and Hysen said he sees the new website as the next step in improving students’ access to online resources.

According to site programmer Punit N. Shah ’12, who is also a Crimson blog editor, the site’s new organization will make it easier for students to find the information they need. UC sites are listed at the top of every page, and information on UC procedures, party planning, and issues such as January Term and Social Life has been consolidated.

“The old website was just all the unchanging information about rules and committees,” said UC Student Relations Committee Chair Ashley M. Fabrizio ’11. “Now it has all the changing news too—the initiatives the UC is running, news on progress the UC has made. It’s really now all in one place.”

The new site received about 800 unique visitors over the last four days, Hysen said. The UC was unable to provide web traffic data for its old site.

Hysen said he hopes the new centralized site will help the UC encourage more non-UC members to create websites such as Harvard Courses and Harvard FML.

“We really want to change the culture at Harvard so that we can support cool things like that,” he said.

He also said that the revamped website will be updated more frequently, as the updated software is easier for UC reps to use.

“Any UC rep is going to be able to update the site this year, whereas last year only three knew how,” Hysen added. “It’ll be updated pretty much every day.”

—Staff writer Stephanie B. Garlock can be reached at sgarlock@college.harvard.edu.