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News Web site passes 100,000-visitor milestone

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By Tom Uribes

Award-winning FresnoStateNews.com (the university's online news service) passed a significant milestone in August when for the first time more than 100,000 people visited the site in a one-month period.

Launched in July 2000, the Web site has gained in popularity not just with its original intended audiences - the news media and the university community - but valleywide, statewide and nationally as well.

Last spring, FresnoStateNews.com was recognized by "The Communicator Awards," a prestigious international competition for excellence in communications.

Additonally, the "Crystal Awards of Excellence" and the "Award of Distinction" were awarded to the www.SaveMartCenter.com Web site, which is part of the overall news Web site.

And, this summer, Fresno State received a $20,000 grant from the CSU Chancellor's Office to demonstrate how the site works to other CSU campuses and how it serves students, the community and the news media.

The FresnoStateNews.com site is becoming one of the primary ways people are learning about the university, said Mark Aydelotte, vice president of university relations and the site's founder and Web master. His University Relations staff helps produce the Web site.

"The site fulfills an important need for our campus in that it provides 24-hour news updates to our students, faculty and staff, as well as a worldwide audience, about important developments at the university," Aydelotte said.

"The site also provides critical information for people off-campus when there's a power failure at the university, phones are jammed or in emergencies when normal information services may not be available."

The site also provides news media both locally and nationally with fresh ideas for news stories, said Shirley Melikian Armbruster, news director for University Relations.

"FresnoStateNews.com is a great way for the university to provide the latest campus news to reporters and editors in the Fresno area and throughout the state," said Armbruster, a Fresno Bee reporter for more than 20 years before joining University Relations last year.

"It's a valuable tool in the fast-paced, competitive news business, and we know Fresno State is getting better media coverage because of FresnoStateNews.com."

The highest use was recorded on Sept. 11, 12 and 13, 2001 as more than 10,000 visitors poured into the site to learn more about the impact of the terrorist attack on America and to get information about on-campus observances.

On Sept. 11 alone, the site was "hit" more than 75,000 times by 4,202 visitors.

The site is updated several times a day and showcases the "pride points" of the university in a popular "Top Ten Things That Make Fresno State Unique" feature, as well as in video clips and other interactive features.

In addition to its more serious mission, the site also boasts several fun features designed for children and students.

"Time-Out" has his own section of the site, which provides pages to color and special activities for children.

The site serves as the online site for such student-directed annual events as Vintage Days and Homecoming.

There also is a whimsical feature called "Top Dog Web Sites" that showcases more than 40 serious and some less-than-serious Web sites at the university.

On the serious side "Top Dog Sites" include the Downing Planetarium, the Bulldog Foundation, a Craig School of Business site that helps you design a business plan over the Web and lists Web cams that follow the development of engineering projects at the university.

On the lighter side is a unique Web site tracing "The Dog Walk" - a lunchtime tradition of Fresno State professors.

Back to University Journal, 09/03/02 Issue