The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) awarded the site a silver medal as part of its National CASE Circle of Excellence Awards highlighting excellence in institutional Web site design.

CASE is an international association of more than 2,900 educational institutions representing 38,000 professionals in alumni relations, communications, and development. The USC Web Presence Project site at www.sc.edu/webpresence was one of five sites nationwide receiving silver medal recognition. Four sites received gold medals and five sites received bronze medals from among 159 sites judged in the competition.

The site also was recognized earlier this year with a Grand Award in Overall Web site design from the CASE Southeastern District III. Only one Grand Award may be given in any individual category.

“We’re excited that the University’s efforts have been recognized both regionally and nationally,” said Larry Pearce, director of University Publications and Printing and a member of USC’s Web Presence Committee. “We’re particularly gratified to receive this level of recognition in a competition which reviews outstanding work submitted by our peer and aspirational institutions.”

Chip Harvey, creative director in University Publications, took the lead in the development of site concept, organization, and content with assistance from Web Presence Committee members Pearce, Bob Lowder, and Kimberley Massey from the publications office and Kenny Edwards from the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Stan Lawrimore from the Contractual Services Group also serves on the committee. David King and Jim Green from Publications supplied additional content and graphic assistance for the Web site. Richard Stingel in Computer Services provided technical support for the site and the template files.

“The site provides a brief history of the project, the reasons for creating a unified Web presence, and explains the different aspects of the template system,” said Harvey. “We hope that people will continue to refer to the site as they build their own sites in the new look and feel.”

Receipt of the silver medal award coincided with the April 15 deadline President Sorensen had set for all colleges, schools, and departments to be in compliance with the new Web Presence guidelines, a goal that the committee feels is in the home stretch of being met.

Nearly 80 percent of the University’s primary academic and administrative entities have adopted the new standards for their Web sites, and many of the remaining areas have submitted compliance plans to the Web Presence Committee. “We understand that limited resources and other Web-related priorities might affect the timing for some areas,” Edwards said.

But he is optimistic that all will be in compliance soon, noting the ease of adopting the new uniform standards and the fact that “while a site’s main pages and any pages likely to be accessed by external audiences need to follow the official template, its use is optional for pages designed primarily for intranet or course-related functions.”

The first step in adopting a Web site to University-wide template standards is as simple as requesting the official template files through the form on the Web Presence Project site, or contacting the Web Presence Committee by e-mail at webpresence@sc.edu.

“While we can’t offer to construct pages, we are available to answer questions through e-mail, and, if somebody has a problem or particular concerns, we are happy to sit down with them and provide suggestions on approaches to navigation and options for visual ideas,” Pearce said.

All new Web pages of the University must be reviewed and approved by the Web Presence Committee before going live.

4/04