Just days ago a new, streamlined University Advancement website went live for all to see.  The site represents the first major overhaul of the Advancement division’s website in over two years, bringing the division’s web presence in line with LAU’s new branding initative while providing a website that is sleeker and easier to use.  The new site also offers new features for its users.

The “LAU News Blog” is a dynamic, continuously updated source for news and information related to LAU, and is the most prominent new aspect of the new website.  Designed to work in conjunction with the university’s newly created social media network, the blog will house content that will then get distributed to LAU’s news and information Facebook and Twitter communities.

“The LAU News Blog is meant to be a centralized location where we can house a lot of the original content that we distribute through our social media outlets,” said Greg Houle, who manages LAU’s news and information social media network.  “We will soon be building it into a large and dynamic blog with a range of interesting content.”

One of the blog’s first new features is “Friday Spotlight,” a biweekly question and answer session with members of the LAU community.  Professors, deans and vice presidents have already been featured to date and other people connected to the university—from students to institute heads and more—are fair game.

“LAU Briefings” are short, concise outlines of important issues facing Lebanon and the region, from the Lebanese diaspora to the plight of domestic workers in the Middle East.  The goal of the briefings is to provide general information to those looking to find out about some of the hot topics in the region.  The briefings also represent an opportunity to highlight some of the work of LAU’s schools, institutes and professors and to illustrate how the university is engaged in the community and the world around it. 

The LAU News Blog will soon house additional content from a wide range of contributors—professors, staff members, and others within the LAU community—who will blog on subjects such as women’s issues, human rights, politics and more. 

“Our goal is to be a source that provides fascinating, timely and intriguing information and to deliver that information through a 21^st century medium,” says Houle.  “I think the LAU News Blog really helps us move swiftly toward achieving that goal.”