Faculty Sites and Their Connection to Student Recruitment and Retention
Faculty members these days are juggling heavy workloads that include teaching, research, funding agency reports, administrative duties, committees, initiatives, and more. On top of that, college administration is tasking everyone to contribute to student recruitment and retention, including individual faculty members like yourself. You may be asking yourself how you can contribute to student recruitment on top of your workload and what tools are available to help make your efforts seamless?
The CALS/LAS Web Team supports sites.iastate.edu which provides ISU faculty websites across the university. Any faculty member can have one (for free)!
Using your website for student recruitment and retention
Sites like ResearchGate or Google Scholar can be vital to your career’s growth, but they aren't always the best tools to help students get to know you. With student loan debt at an all-time high, the decision to attend a university is not an easy one. Students want to be sure their education will be worth it. These days, that means they need to feel confident that the faculty members responsible in part for their future careers have compatible teaching and work styles with them. Would you be willing to be a part of this debt crisis to work with a faculty member who does not invest in your future and well-being?
Personal connection matters
An easy way to establish yourself on the internet for potential students is to have and maintain a faculty or lab website. Today's students thrive and push for wellness, work-life balance, and a general sense of belonging. Feeling connected to those around you matters, especially to the younger generations. Many universities, including our own, are also pushing for increased wellness and connections for their students and employees. As a top-tier faculty member, you also believe in these things and practice them in your own classes and labs. One way potential students can learn this is through your faculty website. As they search for their professors on the web, ensure you’re telling the story about your classroom, not someone else! Show them what a successful classroom environment looks like to you. Give them real examples of past students thriving in your classes.
Using your website for recruitment
In a time when well-being is often more impactful than prestige, faculty must work harder to prove their values if they want to compete for top talent. A well-maintained faculty site can give you that competitive edge when recruiting that top talent to your team.
Additionally, students will value and benefit from you featuring them and their research. Your students can reference this as they enter the job market, and it will have a positive impact when these employers evaluate job candidates. Potential students will also see that real, successful students have emerged from your supervision.
The Mechanics
Are you afraid of the time commitment of a website? Have no fear; our team is here! You’re responsible for your website’s content, but we maintain the website’s platform. New theme updates and other university requirements are managed by our team. Plus, by using our platform, it’s clear to students that your site is fully associated with the university, increasing your credibility.
On top of that, our team has a content strategist who can help design your site to be intentional and effective. With the right website goals and intentions, you can have a positive, significant impact on your digital profile. We’ll train you and your team to edit and maintain your site with digital accessibility and content strategy in mind.
Not sold yet? Check out the CALS/LAS Web Team’s website showcase and see for yourself how great the faculty sites we support are!
If you prefer to manage your own website, we have a full array of tutorials on our Help for ISU Sites website.
Do you still have questions or want hands-on help? Reach out to our team by emailing us at websupport@iastate.edu.