Clark website wins top award in higher education

Clark University’s dynamic new website recently received the “Best in Higher Education” 2016 Acquia Engage Award.

The redesigned Clark website was two years in the making, inspired by input from prospective students, current undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, alumni and staff. Through strong storytelling, vivid imagery and bold design, the site provides clear, colorful — and highly personalized — access to the Clark experience.

“It was important for us to capture the true essence of the University and demonstrate the passion, commitment and impact of our community in the world,” said Paula David, chief marketing officer at Clark.

Acquia, a leading provider of cloud-based, digital experience management solutions, received more than 150 submissions from its partners and customers. A panel of web content management and digital marketing experts selected winning projects in 13 categories from a field of 88 finalists. Each site was evaluated for its visual design, functionality, integration and overall user experience to determine the winners.

According to one of the judges, Dom Nicastro, reporter at CMSWire, “Clark University nailed the personalization game thanks to a hard-working mission supported by their marketing team and agencies, ConnectiveDX and KWALL. They collected personas and segments and used personalization effectively through the very intuitive and helpful My Journey feature on their website. Clark has to stand out in a competitive region for universities and they more than make their mark.”

Phase one of the new site, launched in March, focuses on the needs of prospective undergraduate and master’s students. Here is a selection of pages created in the redesign:

• Undergraduate Admissions
• Graduate Admissions
• Passion with a Purpose
• Research at Clark
• ClarkNow
• ResearchMatters

Phase Two is currently under development and features content about Clark’s nationally recognized model of education, LEEP (Liberal Education and Effective Practice), as well as information for and about alumni.

Built on the Drupal content management system, the site is fully responsive across all devices, and utilizes Lift, a leading personalization software developed by Acquia.

“The Drupal platform enables us to build a more customized and streamlined user experience, and it provides us with new capabilities to engage with people who are interested in Clark,” said Pennie Turgeon, chief information officer.

Acquia Engage Award categories included brand experience, commerce, financial services, health services, high technology, and media, among others.  A complete list of this year’s winners, announced on Nov. 3, is available here.

“Acquia’s partners and customers are working tirelessly to drive the future of digital. Together we’re helping organizations develop elegant solutions that inspire and engage audiences, and create significant value for their businesses,” said Joe Wykes, senior vice president of global channels and commerce at Acquia.