Columbia University, with its well-deserved reputation for being a competitive social escalator, naturally dedicates a significant amount of resources for student career planning.

The Center for Career Education helps connect students with the world's top employers and provides a huge array of resources from one-on-one counseling to networking events and career fairs.

When I first took on this project, the Center's Web site was large and unwieldy. Information was hard to find and usually out of date. The Center was bustling with activity, holding dozens of events each week, but you wouldn't know it from look at the Web site's static content. They were a prime candidate for a content management system and a retooled information architecture, and I helped them get both.

Introducing Drupal

With no central communications department, it was clear early on that our content management system needed to facilitate collaboration across the organization. So, I implemented a revision moderation system based on Drupal's existing revision system and deployed a department-ownership model to keep everyone working within their own areas of expertise.

With everyone in the Center now accountable for their own content, the technical staff were now free to use Drupal as a platform for dynamic enhancements to the site, like an interactive internship database and brochure management system.

The Results

Response to the Center's new site has been overwhelmingly positive and has allowed students to see the Center in a new way. In fact, it tops the list of best career center Web sites made by GradSpot.com.