Oct. 26, 2010 A redesigned website for Cal State Monterey Bay debuted on Oct. 25, after more than a year of work by members of the Strategic Communications and Information Technology departments and an outside contractor, White Whale Web Services of Oakland.

Dozens of staff members and students gathered for the official launch in the University Center Living Room. President Dianne Harrison cut the ribbon that “launched” the site. “Today is an exciting day for our campus,” Dr. Harrison told the group. “This is a massive undertaking. Our website reflects who we are, what our identity is, what kind of research our faculty and students are doing . . . the website reflects the personality of the campus.” She quoted an Information Technology student as saying: “ ‘I feel like this website reflects me as a student.’ And that’s the best thing that can be said.” Chief Information Officer Chip Lenno explained that the site was created using open source software. “As of today, we have contributed more than 25,000 lines of code back to the open-source community,” he said with obvious pride. The president and founder of White Whale, Jason Pontius, was complimentary of CSUMB’s web team. “We work with a number of colleges and universities, and I have never in my career worked with a team of people who were as calm, confident and prepared for this re-design,” he told the gathering, singling out Elizabeth MacDonald, Kevin Miller, Kevin Garcia and Greg Pool by name. “The code has been masterful . . . ,” he added, a reference to Miller’s work. In addition to the people Pontius named, many others worked behind the scenes to make the redesign successful, including Joan Iguban and Molly Nance of Strategic Communications, Paul Hall of IT and student assistant Chi Tran. The redesigned site features work contributed by members of the campus community, including student-produced photos and videos. The site has also been geared for ease of use, with a blend of need-to-know information and room to click around and discover unexpected stories about the university, and its students and faculty.