Buffalo State Home Page Takes Gold CASE Award

Taking the gold for first place is always sweet. When the award names your website the best in its district, and that district includes more colleges and universities than any other, it's even sweeter.

Buffalo State is a member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). CASE is an international association of educational institutions with offices in London, Singapore, and Mexico City in addition to its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Its purpose is to serve "the advancement professionals" who work on behalf of their institution in "alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, and allied areas."

There are eight CASE districts in North America, and Buffalo State belongs to CASE Mid-Atlantic District II, the largest district with more than 675 member institutions. Melissa Meehan, web administration director in the College Relations Office, was notified on December 9 that the judges in the CASE District II Accolades Award program selected Buffalo State's institutional home page as its 2015 gold-award winner in the "Website: Institutional Home Page" category.

In evaluating Buffalo State’s website, the judges noted that the site has “strong graphic elements and a clear sense of navigation. The panel was impressed that this was accomplished with an in-house team and liked the way social media was prominently featured on the homepage. It's a modern, fun looking site that would appeal to prospective students, and it had a unique feel—not 'cookie cutter.'" The College Relations web team, led by Meehan, includes Mark Norris, web administration associate director and editor; Colleen Callahan, associate director of web community and development; Susan Zilliox, web graphic designer; and Daniel Schmidt III, web developer.

Tim Walsh, associate vice president for College Relations, said, "Our web team deserves a standing ovation for this great recognition. The collaborative relationships they continue to build throughout campus assist in enhancing our web presence each day." The award will be formally given during CASE District II’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., in February.

The other winners in the category are the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University (silver); the Drew Theological School website (bronze); and the University of Maryland, University College (honorable mention).