WOU Website Redesign FAQs

There will be no disruptions to access on the current website during the redesign process. All planning, design, and development work to launch the new website will be completed in a staging environment prior to launch.

The new website will feature a modern, user-friendly design, improved navigation, full mobile responsiveness, and enhanced search functionality to help visitors quickly find what they need. It will also incorporate clearer pathways tailored to prospective students, current students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners. In addition, we’re improving accessibility to comply with State and federal WCAG standards, streamlining content to reduce clutter, and introducing more engaging visuals and storytelling elements that highlight the Western Oregon University experience.

The launch will occur winter/spring of 2027. We are currently in the planning and development stages, and we will communicate the timeline and key milestones as we progress. Stay tuned for updates!

The website redesign aims to enhance user experience, and part of that is ensuring we are hosting the appropriate information on each platform. Course information and academic resources for students will primarily exist on the Academic Catalog or Canvas.

Absolutely! We value faculty insights and will collaborate with each department to ensure you have a say in your program’s content.

The new website will feature a more user-friendly content management system, allowing faculty to easily update course descriptions, faculty bios, and other relevant information. Training sessions will be provided to help you navigate the new system.

While we aim to maintain existing links as much as possible, some URLs may change. We will provide a comprehensive list of updated links and resources before the launch, and we encourage faculty to verify their links to ensure accessibility. We will also implement a 301 Redirect strategy to ensure that users who have bookmarked content can still find relevant content, and no SEO value will be lost if a page or content is moved to a new URL.

As part of this project, we will be implementing a more structured plan for web governance that will maintain everyone’s ability to edit their content while also implementing approval workflows that will help us to bring more consistency to the experience across the site, better align the WOU brand, and enforce compliance with accessibility and web design and development best practices. All editors will receive training on the new website as well as ongoing support post-launch.

All editors will have an opportunity to review their content in the new site before launch to ensure that everything has been migrated properly. Please keep in mind that part of this process is bringing more consistency to our site structure and content, including alignment around our key audiences: prospective and current students. Through this process, we may ask that you update your content in alignment with a new content strategy while also helping us identify content that may be moved to a new faculty and staff intranet built to house content that’s important to our internal teams, but maybe not necessary for external audiences. This will be a collaborative process for all of us, and we’ll need your help to make sure the new website is a great reflection of the student experience at WOU.