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Academic Colleges & Departments

Keeping Content Unique

Keeping content fresh and accurate is a core part of SHSU's web strategy. One of the easiest ways to do that is to ensure all content stays within its proper scope and is not repeated across multiple pages.

To support this, each department, college, and division should only publish content unique to their area. Content that belongs to another area of the website should be linked to, not recreated.

The primary audience for the SHSU website is prospective students. The website also serves the broader SHSU community: alumni, supporters, and the general public. Content intended for current students, faculty, and staff should be moved to the SHSU intranet unless required to be public.

Required Pages

Every department, college, or division represented on the SHSU website must have an overview page and a staff/faculty directory page.

Overview Page (Home/index)

Required File Name: index (e.g., criminal-justice/index)

This page serves as the front door to the department's subsite. It should include a brief description of the department's value to prospective students and/or supporters. All overview pages must end with a Contact component containing current department contact information. College overview pages should include links to the college's academic departments.

People Page (Staff/Faculty Directory)

Required File Name: people (e.g., criminal-justice/people)

Use the Directory Block component to list all personnel in the department. Do not build manual or custom personnel lists outside of this component.

Optional Content or Pages

All additional content on the college or department website should easily fall into one of the following categories and fit the category’s description. If the content does not fit the category description, please reach out to IMC for advisement.

  • Tell students about scholarships for your college.
  • Link to Scholarships4Kats for all scholarship information.
  • You may reference unique scholarships by name, but all scholarship content must direct users to Scholarships4Kats.
  • Before adding individual scholarship information, submit a draft of your text to the compliance office for approval (required for SB-17 compliance).
  • Use the Program Finder component to add a list of programs filtered by department.
  • You may include brief descriptions of program types (such as accelerated programs or 4+1 degree programs), but do not provide detailed descriptions or requirements of individual programs.
  • All program content must link to the official SHSU program page(s).
    Department/college program information must be unique and must not duplicate content from program pages or the course catalog.
  • This page speaks directly to alumni and supporters.
  • It should include a clear call to action to give or support the department or college.
  • Use the Events component to list events.
  • All events must be published in Localist.

Tell prospective students about unique facilities available to them, such as specialized labs, equipment, or rehearsal spaces.

  • Describe resources or services that are specific to the department or college.
  • For university-wide resources, provide a link rather than recreating that content on your page.
  • Share the department or college's mission and values.
  • This may be a formal mission statement or narrative content that describes the culture students will join.
  • Provide information about the department's or college's affiliated academic centers.
  • Use the Highlighted News component to feature up to three news stories.
  • Create news articles and student success stories specific to your department or college.
  • This page is intended for audiences outside the university.
  • Use it to describe public-facing services, programs, or resources the community can access.
  • Example: ongoing teaching resources from the College of Education for K-12 teachers.
  • Highlight recognition that is relevant to the public, prospective students, and supporters.
  • Examples include a Wall of Fame, Extraordinary Alumni recognition, Ambassador programs, and Dean's List honorees.
  • Describe any admissions requirements specific to the degree field that go beyond standard test scores and prerequisites.
  • Examples include portfolio reviews, auditions, and competency-based credit opportunities
  • Feature content that reinforces the credibility of the department or its programs.
  • Examples include industry partnerships and specialized accreditations.
  • Publish administrative documents or resources intended for prospective students or the general public.
  • If a PDF is required, the PDF should be checked using the Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Checker.
  • Examples include student handbooks and public room reservation information.
  • Tell prospective students about opportunities available to them during their time at SHSU.
  • Examples include internship programs and student organizations.

Key Takeaway

To reduce duplicated content across the SHSU website, and to ensure that the information architecture remains intuitive for visitors, colleges and academic department content is limited to a list of allowable content types.

All content that does not belong to the department should be linked to rather than duplicated. This helps visitors form a mental map of the website and university organization.

Related Guidance

Updated 6/15/26