Website Governance
We maintain a consistent, high-quality, and brand-aligned web presence that supports recruitment, institutional credibility, and enhances the user experience.
Hybrid Centralized Governance Model
We follow a hybrid centralized, but coordinated governance model that combines strategic institutional guidance with web management. Strategic direction is provided through the Web Governance Advisory Board, while day-to-day website strategy, publishing, quality assurance, accessibility, and implementation remain the responsibility of the Strategic Communications & Marketing Web Team. This approach allows institutional priorities to inform major web decisions while maintaining consistency, quality, and an efficient publishing process.
- Centralized Authority: The Strategic Communications & Marketing Web Team retains ownership of all high-impact areas. This includes the following:
- Homepage
- Academic program pages
- Admissions and Cost & Aid pages
- Main navigation, global design, and branding elements
- Decentralized Editing: Individuals across departments may request access to edit content within their area after completing required web training to understand how to apply best practices for search, accessibility and overall content.
Key Roles & Responsibilities
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Web Governance Advisory Board | Provides strategic guidance on major institutional web initiatives, navigation, website structure, policy-level decisions, and other cross-divisional topics. Members represent their division's priorities and provide leadership perspective when web decisions arise. The Board serves in an advisory capacity. |
| Strategic Communications & Marketing Web Team | Leads web strategy, governance, publishing, quality assurance, training, and implementation. Facilitates discussions with the Advisory Board when strategic guidance is needed while retaining responsibility for execution and day-to-day website management. |
| Content Editors | Trained users with permission to revise assigned pages. All updates are reviewed and approved by the Web Team prior to publication. |
| Subject-Matter Experts | Provide authoritative content, review accuracy, and request updates through the Web Request Form. They do not require CMS access to contribute expertise. |
Web Governance Advisory Board
The Web Governance Advisory Board ensures that significant institutional website decisions benefit from leadership perspectives across the University before implementation. When facing major strategic decisions, the Web Team can consult representatives from key divisions to ensure the University's digital presence aligns with institutional priorities.
The Web Governance Advisory Board provides leadership-level guidance on strategic website decisions that affect multiple divisions or have institution-wide impact.
The Advisory Board helps ensure that CU's website continues to support:
- Recruitment and enrollment goals
- Institutional priorities
- User experience and accessibility
- Cross-divisional collaboration
- Long-term digital strategy
Guidance can cover a wide variety topics including website navigation, new institutional initiatives, campus or organizational restructuring, platform-level changes and other feedback based on discussions deemed necessary by the web team.
Most website updates follow established workflows and do not require Advisory Board involvement.
Topics may be brought before the Advisory Board at the web team's discretion when they:
- Affect multiple divisions
- Require institutional prioritization
- Involve navigation or information architecture
- Influence important recruitment initiatives or brand positioning
- Establish new web standards or governance practices
The Web Governance Advisory Board is composed of representatives from key university divisions who are able to provide strategic guidance and represent the priorities of their respective areas. Members also serve as a liaison between the Advisory Board and their division's leadership when broader institutional input is needed.
Current Representation
- Enrollment Management - Stephen Lee
- Academic Affairs - Chris Podeschi
- Information Technology - Loren McNett & Adam Creasy
- Fiscal Affairs - Dianna Burger
- Student Affairs - George Rusczyk
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging - Ken Hall
- Strategic Communications & Marketing - Doug Spatafore, Ryan McNamara, Steve Filipiak, & Jason Jeremiah
Membership may evolve over time as university priorities, organizational structures, and leadership assignments change.
Website Content Protocols
This section outlines the day-to-day standards and workflows that support our collaborative content model. From publishing processes and editorial guidelines to training and quality tools, these protocols are designed to help web editors and contributors keep their content accurate, on-brand, and effective for all users.
Our publishing workflow shows how content changes are submitted, reviewed, and approved across the university website.
- Edits from content editors are reviewed and approved by the StratCom Web Team before publishing.
- Subject-matter experts or general users may request updates via the Web Project & Update Request Form.
- Turnaround time for requests is typically:
- 2–3 business days for small edits
- 5–7 business days for larger revisions
- Major strategic initiatives are evaluated by the Web Team and, when appropriate, discussed with the Web Governance Advisory Board to obtain cross-divisional guidance before implementation. Strategic Communications & Marketing retains responsibility for implementation and ongoing management..
Our web content standards help ensure a consistent and high-quality user experience.
The Website Style Guide outlines:
- Best practices for content structure, accessibility, and branding
- What types of content StratCom directly manages (e.g., homepage, program pages, global branding)
- Formatting guidelines for images, links, and video
- Training resources and CMS support documentation
- Frequently asked questions about access, turnaround time, and responsibilities
This guide is regularly updated and serves as the definitive reference for all web editors and stakeholders.
Before gaining editing access to the site, web editors must complete introductory web training.
- Training includes:
- CMS use and best practices
- Accessibility and SEO
- Guidance on writing and formatting elements for the web
- Brand alignment and editorial voice
- Refresher trainings are offered periodically to reinforce quality standards.
Ongoing content reviews and audits help us maintain accuracy and compliance. This section explains how we monitor quality, what tools we use, and how content owners/editors are expected to keep pages up to date.
- While the Web Team conducts periodic content reviews, we really rely on the university community to help identify outdated, inaccurate, or low-quality content. We strongly encourage faculty, staff, and other site contributors to promptly report any necessary updates to ensure information remains accurate and useful.
- Content flagged as outdated, inaccurate, or low quality may be updated or unpublished.
- Editors who do not comply with standards may lose access until additional training is completed.
- The Web Team utilizes utilizes a variety of analytics and governance tools including Google Analytics, Cludo search analytics, Microsoft Clarity, and other governance technologies to monitor website quality, understand user behavior, and identify opportunities for continual improvement.
Guiding Principles
The University's web governance model is built upon the following principles:
- Strategic decisions should reflect institutional priorities.
- User experience should guide navigation and information architecture.
- Accessibility and usability remain foundational requirements.
- Data should inform decision-making whenever possible.
- Collaboration across divisions strengthens the University's digital presence.
- Day-to-day web management remains centralized to ensure consistency and quality
Culture of Stewardship
We aim to build a supportive community of editors who understand the strategic role of the website.
Our digital culture establishes:
- Web editors who are equipped and empowered to maintain their content areas effectively
- A community that respects a centralized structure which ensures content consistency, brand alignment, and accessibility
- Continuous improvement that is supported through training, collaboration, and strategic oversight
Website Style Guide
The Website Style Guide is your essential resource for creating and managing content across the CU website. Explore best practices, templates, tutorials, and tools to help you build consistent, accessible, and high-quality web pages.
