Immersive experience encourages exploration of UChicago research, intellectual community
The University of Chicago is launching a newly redesigned UChicago News website, creating an engaging platform to highlight the field-defining research at UChicago and the unique stories of the campus community.
The reimagined news.uchicago.edu delivers an immersive experience that elevates digital storytelling and encourages audiences around the world to explore content through a variety of engaging formats—from podcasts to special series to explainers—that highlight the research, people and events that define UChicago.
“UChicago News has grown into a powerful platform to tell the story of the UChicago community—and the impact its researchers, students and alumni are making here and around the world,” said Paul M. Rand, vice president of communications at UChicago. “We’re excited for audiences to engage with this dynamic website design, which highlights the best-in-class content being produced across the University.”
UChicago News is the main hub to highlight the latest research, announcements and initiatives at UChicago. Since it was last redesigned in 2018, UChicago News has doubled its audience—and now reaches millions of knowledge-seeking users from across the globe. In that time, University Communications has partnered with the schools and divisions to launch exciting new features and formats to share UChicago’s story.
“UChicago News has grown into a powerful platform to tell the story of the UChicago community—and the impact its researchers, students and alumni are making here and around the world.”
Central among them is podcasting, an effort that UChicago began in 2018 with the launch of the Big Brains podcast. It has since grown into eight shows in the award-winning University of Chicago Podcast Network (UCPN), which now include eight shows highlighting UChicago faculty across disciplines—from business and economics to politics to human rights to mathematics.
Big Brains, which explores the groundbreaking research and discoveries transforming our world, has been named the best university-produced podcast by CASE the past four years. The new UChicago News website includes a redesigned Big Brains homepage as well as refreshed episode pages, which better highlight the faculty experts and research being explored in each episode.
The redesigned UChicago News homepage features innovative content series highlighting UChicago research and the UChicago community, including:
- The UChicago Explainer Series, which provides a deep dive on pioneering research at UChicago—topics ranging from carbon dating to the origins of life on Earth to improv comedy’s UChicago roots.
- Inside the Lab, a series that gives audiences a first-hand look at research changing the world, allowing them to hear from UChicago scholars and learn about the complex problems their work is tackling.
- Unique content series including Meet a UChicagoan, highlighting unique stories of UChicago’s intellectual community; UChicago Class Visits, which takes audiences inside the classroom to learn about the transformative educational experiences at UChicago; and Dispatches from Abroad, which highlights the unique opportunities for students and faculty to research and study abroad.
The new website also includes an expanded listing of interesting events across UChicago as well as a page highlighting faculty experts in UChicago’s Academic Communications Network and their commentary in the news media.