In late August, Yakima Valley College launched its new public website, a major overhaul months in the making and centered on serving current and prospective students.
Beyond the more modern and attractive design, the new site includes a host of features that make it easier for students to find the information they need to enroll and succeed in their college experience.
“As we developed the new website, we wanted to make sure that it uses more images of our students, of the activities happening inside and outside the classroom,” said Dustin Wunderlich, director of community relations. “It’s important to show students what a vibrant, diverse community we have at YVC.
“Beyond the design elements, our focus was on creating a website that better connects current and prospective students with information about what programs YVC offers, the many resources available to support their success and how they can engage in campus life.”
One of the enhancements on the new site is an improved keyword search with a more prominent search bar that allows users to enter search terms directly rather than having to leave the page a user is on to go to a separate search page.
The new site also features much better integration of content from the college’s catalog while removing the need to manually update links to catalog content.
“Having up-to-date catalog information is important for students to plan their studies, so making that content more visible and ensuring it’s current will be very beneficial for our students,” Wunderlich said. “We’ve also added course listings to many department pages that were lacking them before. Students visiting our new website will find it much easier to see all of the different courses we offer in subjects like English, history, music and so on.”
Later this academic year, the college will implement another new feature onto program pages — a module that embeds information about career opportunities and earnings related to specific YVC academic programs directly on their webpage.
“That information is very valuable to students and families who are wondering about the value of a college education,” Wunderlich said. “We want to show them that YVC degrees and certificates are able to prepare them for careers that are in-demand and offer family-sustaining wages.”