From an HR perspective, faculty positions can often look very different from other professional and staff roles on campus, especially when it comes to those faculty on the tenure track. But as HR’s role in academic staffing expands, it’s critical to understand tenure and its role in supporting academic freedom, says Joerg Tiede, the director of the department of research and public policy with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). In his recent CUPA-HR webinar, Tenure: Past, Present and Future, Tiede explains the nuances of tenure and academic freedom through an HR lens. Here are some key takeaways.
Tenure and Academic Freedom
Tenure
Tenure is an “indefinite appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency and program discontinuation,” according to the AAUP.
Tiede notes that this simple definition is often surprising to many in higher ed, because tenure frequently comes with other advantages, such as sabbatical or the ability to vote for or hold a position in faculty senate. But these other benefits are often part of an institution’s culture or a faculty member’s contract, rather than inherent to tenure itself.
Academic Freedom
Tiede stresses that tenure exists not as an individual perk, but to protect academic freedom. The AAUP defines academic freedom as “the freedom of a teacher or researcher in higher education to investigate and discuss the issues in his or her academic field, and to teach or publish findings without interference from political figures, boards of trustees, donors, or other entities.” The concept of academic freedom applies to faculty members’ speech and writing on campus as teachers and advisors, in their research, and in their “intramural speech” (e.g., institutional governance) and “extramural speech” (e.g., when speaking as a citizen).
Not all professors have or are eligible for tenure, including non-tenure-track faculty who may work full time as salaried employees with benefits but are not eligible for tenure. An example of this kind of faculty may be someone whose job functions involve instruction rather than a mix of instruction and research. Other non-tenure-track faculty include adjuncts, who are paid per course and typically do not have a benefits package. The breakdown of who is eligible for tenure differs by institution, with some institutions not having a tenure system at all. See the AAUP’s data on the academic workforce.
The Future of Tenure and Academic Freedom
“Tenure is indispensable to the success of an institution,” says Tiede. This is because academic freedom not only strengthens individual institutions by protecting the teaching and research of faculty, but also upholds the public good. The AAUP’s FAQs on academic freedom states: “Those teaching and researching in higher education need academic freedom because the knowledge produced and disseminated in colleges and universities is critical for the development of society and for the health of a democracy, an idea often expressed by the phrase ‘for the common good’ or ‘for the public good.’” In theory, tenure shields faculty from political or religious agendas. It also protects tenured faculty who work in areas that are or may become controversial.
Tiede notes that academic freedom would be made secure with more broadly inclusive tenure policies. One way this can be accomplished is by converting non-tenure-track positions into tenure-track positions, with the AAUP recommending “only minor changes in job description.” In particular, the conversion of teaching-focused positions from non-tenure-track to tenure-track is recommended. Though tenure is often tied to research accomplishments, Tiede and the AAUP do not view this as inherent to the definition of tenure.
A more inclusive tenure process also includes reviewing for implicit bias. In breaking down who is tenured or on the tenure track, CUPA-HR has found that more women faculty are represented in non-tenure-track roles than in tenure-track roles. Moreover, with each increase in rank, the proportions of women faculty and faculty of color decrease for both tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty. Taken together, this means that women are over-represented in the lowest-paying and lowest-ranking positions.
Who gets tenured also has implications for pay equity. Faculty pay raises are commonly tied to promotion and tenure, which is often the only time faculty see a significant increase in their salary. When there is bias in promoting women and faculty of color to successive ranks, this results in career earnings gaps.
Additional Resources
Watch Tiede’s webinar, Tenure: Past, Present and Future, which covers the origins and history of tenure and answers HR-specific questions, like whether academic freedom applies to provocative posts on social media and how best to nurture a merit-based culture within a tenure system.
Check out CUPA-HR’s e-learning courses, including Boot Camp, which offers a higher ed perspective on essential HR topics, and Understanding Higher Education, which is designed to help all employees be more effective in their roles by developing a deeper understanding of institutional structure and culture.
Ways to support an increasingly contingent faculty workforce are explored in the article The Way Forward: Envisioning New Faculty Models for a Changing Professoriate. The focus is on The Delphi Project, part of the University of Southern California’s Pullias Center for Higher Education, which explores how non-tenure-track faculty working conditions are tied to student success.
Ready for a conversation about educational technology, artificial intelligence, and personal academic websites? The 2024 season of The Social Academic is here.
Meet my featured interview guest, Director of Educational Research Technology at New York University, Dr. Elizabeth McAplin. Read, watch, or listen to this episode of The Social Academic.
Jennifer: Hi everyone, my name is Jennifer van Alstyne. Welcome to the new season of The Social Academic. This blog, podcast, and YouTube channel is about managing your online presence in academia. Today we’re gonna be talking about teaching and educational resources.
I’m delighted to introduce my guest to you, Dr. Elizabeth McAplin, who is Director of Educational Research Technology at New York University. Elizabeth, thanks so much for joining me today. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your role at NYU?
Elizabeth: Sure. I’m Director of Educational Technology Research at NYU. I’ve been in this role a little over 7 years now, and at NYU for almost 10 years. I did my PhD at NYU and a MA in Educational Technology at NYU so I have a very long history with NYU.
When I was a student there and worked, I had multiple hats: student, alumni, faculty, and administrator.
Jennifer: Wow.
Elizabeth: Yup, all of them. I was the face of NYU. My role there specifically is to collaborate with faculty who are looking to make pedagogical changes to their courses usually involving some sort of media or technology.
We had a very large provostial push years ago to encourage faculty to start using technology, trying it out. And seeing how well that could enhance their courses and make things better and easier for themselves as well as their students.
I’ll work with them in part sometimes to develop a technology. Sometimes it might be a virtual reality project that they might want to use in their course or program. As well as conduct scholarly research to see how well that is impacting student learning in their classroom or program. We aim to publish those findings as well.
I’m a central resource. I work with all schools and departments at NYU.
Creating her university-hosted personal academic website
Jennifer: That is amazing. Because you’ve been at NYU for so long, you were a student there, you’ve worked there, and now you’re a director there. I’m curious. You have an internal personal academic website [hosted by NYU]. Is that something you created when you were a student? Or, in your newer role?
Elizabeth: No, I created it during a time when I was both a student and in my current role. I was finishing my PhD while I was still a Director.
I created it not for the purpose of my own portfolio site. I do have a presence at NYU that shows my service within the structure of Research, Instruction, and Technology which is my department, within the larger umbrella of NYU IT. [That presence] does get a little bit lost sometimes in that filter. But it is there. It doesn’t describe me personally, it describes my service to faculty and to the university. It’s not focused on me per se.
The portfolio site is to showcase some of the work I’ve done in the past, mainly at NYU. It does also list my CV, prior work experience as well as teaching experience and the like. In the event life changes, I like to have something available and ready to show.
Jennifer: I love that. When I was exploring your site it was fun for me to see the different types of videos you were posting about educational technology projects you were working on and collaborating with faculty. I like that even though this is a portfolio site, it sounds like maybe a ‘just in case’ site? That it was helping me prepare for this interview and get to know a little bit more about you. At what point did you create that website?
Elizabeth: That was many years ago. It’s hosted through NYU. NYU provides faculty a WordPress service just for that. Sometimes they use it to create a portfolio for grants they’ve received or want to receive. They can provide that to their grant funders. It’s another way to showcase the work that gets done.
It’s an internally managed WordPress hosting site. It’s not something I pay for externally. All faculty have that available to them [at NYU].
Jennifer: Did NYU encourage you to create a website? Or was it something you learned about and then decided to make yourself?
Elizabeth: I think when I knew the service was available, and I was teaching there as well, I decided it was a good idea and why not? I mean, if it’s free and I don’t have to pay for it, there’s no non-incentive not to do it, haha.
Videos for your personal academic website portfolio
Jennifer: Your portfolio had a nice list of videos where you’ve collaborated with faculty to create resources and technologies for their classrooms. Can you tell me about one of the videos that you were excited to share on your website?
Elizabeth: Before I was a Director of Research, I was a Director that oversaw a very large team of instructional designers and media producers. Our role was to create a lot of this content for faculty to be used in their courses. I learned a great deal about each faculty member I worked with and their particular expertise. It’s kind of a wonderful way to learn more, because I love learning. And to create and produce those videos.
Most of those [videos] were created with a team of people. They would be scripted, prepared, and imagery selected for them ahead of time. They were very well planned out videos that were used in their courses.
They’re just fascinating and visually engaging pieces of work. We did a lot of things! A lot of interactive pieces: videos, games, simulations, etc.
Jennifer: That is so cool! And I love that there’s support at NYU for faculty who are looking to introduce those newer technologies into their pedagogy, into their teaching.
Artificial intelligence in the university classroom
Jennifer: I’m curious. What technologies are faculty curious about exploring? I’m coming from literature as a field. There’s newer augmented reality [AR] or virtual reality [VR] technology that can be introduced into that. Most faculty just aren’t aware of it. So I’m curious, what are faculty at NYU curious about learning now?
Elizabeth: Artificial intelligence. It’s a really big topic right now because it has so many unknowns.
I think there’s still a lot of faculty that are hesitant to use a lot of technology. I think since COVID when faculty had to go online during that time period, that was a big change for them. It did kind of give them that opportunity to learn more about technologies they could use moving forward.
There’s giving a Zoom presentation, learning how to present, use technologies within Zoom for their classes, making hybrid courses or fully online versions of them. Learning how to create better videos for their courses.
Not relying so much on lecture as being used for the time in the classroom anymore. Pulling the lecture out, making that as a video or something, and using the classroom for more discussion or interactive uses of the time with their students.
Jennifer: That is so cool.
Elizabeth: It’s such a precious amount of time.
And then, there’s a handful of faculty very interested in virtual reality and augmented reality. Those are mainly in the sciences and medical fields.
And now, artificial intelligence is the biggest buzz at the university. How are faculty going to manage using artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, in a productive and constructive way as opposed to ways that students want to write their papers with.
Jennifer: It’s kind of like a shift in how we think about artificial intelligence in the classroom from fear-based to how can it be a part of it in a meaningful way?
What are your thoughts on it? How are you feeling about artificial intelligence and pedagogy?
Elizabeth: I think there can be a lot of great uses of it, as long as it’s well planned out. There are efficiencies to things like using ChatGPT that we didn’t have before. That can be wonderful.
Even doing literature reviews and such through ChatGPT can help speed up that process. We didn’t have to go to a library before to do a lot of research on articles because now they’re all digitized. We can do that through an online library system.
It just gets a little bit closer to making things more efficient. Maybe we’ll have more doctoral students coming out of it. I’m not sure.
There’s always going to be pros and cons for whatever technology comes before us. We have to acknowledge it. We have to understand what are the risks? What are the affordances? And work with that. That’s always going to be the case.
Just like with a calculator, one of those tools that came out and people said, “You won’t have to learn math anymore because you can just use a calculator.” Regardless of all that, yes, we will still turn to our calculators to make sure we’re right in our math.
It’s not a new problem, and it’s not a new risk. I think some of it comes down to making sure when we’re using these tools, we’re not also putting our students at risk like with identifiable information or grades, things like that. It’s a constant conversation to have with faculty on best uses and practices of these technologies and tools. And to keep monitoring those risks and the things that are gonna come up. They’re going to come up. They always will.
When students get very stressed out and are under pressure, they’re more apt to want to cheat. Or have something, or someone, help them get the work done. So reviewing how much work we’re imposing on our students, or understanding that their social lives are taking a precedence they need to dial back to focus on their academic careers. It’s always a balance: is it the student’s problem? Or, is it our problem? And how do we find a happy medium in between?
Jennifer: I really like that. It’s a beautiful point. When I was a student my parents had just passed away. I was working so hard. There were times I struggled to keep up. My teachers’ empathy for understanding what I was going through, even just a little bit made it feel like a safe place in the classroom, and made me excited to learn (even if I was a little bit behind in some areas). So I loved what you just said.
Which of the technologies you just share with me are you most excited about? You talked about AR, VR, artificial intelligence, games. Which of those kinds of forms of teaching excites you?
Elizabeth: I’ve been working so much in virtual reality recently in the past few years, so I guess that’s the most exciting.
I’ve been working with 1 faculty member for almost 10 years. We just keep evolving resources for her course, which is really large, almost 400 students in her course. The virtual reality project we had for her, we keep trying to find ways to improve the experience overall. We’ve just gotten into working with faculty in the School of Engineering on how to create custom haptics for that virtual reality simulation.
Jennifer: Would you explain haptics for us?
Elizabeth: A virtual reality out of the box headset comes with the headset and 2 hand controllers. When you’re trying to learn a procedure that involves medical instruments like a syringe or a scalpel if you’re doing surgery, you want to know and feel what that device is like as you are performing the procedure. It’s not just cognitive. It’s tactile. It’s procedural. It has multiple learning and practice components to it.
An out of the box hand controller is not particularly authentic to actually holding a syringe and actually practicing learning that procedure. Working with engineers, they developed a 3D printed syringe and connected that to a haptic device that now students can pick up and actually feel something that’s more authentic to that experience as they are in a virtual reality simulation in going through those procedural steps.
It’s never going to replace working on an actual patient. We’re trying to prepare them to get as close as possible to a real patient experience before they work with a patient because there are so many risks involved in working with a real patient. So that’s the impetus behind that. It’s an ongoing process. We keep learning and we keep trying to make things better. That’s for us, part of the learning process as well. And that’s what’s exciting.
Jennifer: That sounds so exciting. And I love it’s been an ongoing project and exploration over 10 years to improve the teaching and tools in that course.
Jennifer on sharing the resources you create online
Jennifer: One of the things I wanted to chat about for faculty who might be listening to this, is that when you do create educational resources or tools like this, it would be great to share on your personal academic website and on social media.
These tools don’t just help your students and other faculty at your university. They might help or inspire faculty across the world. I want you to know when you do take time to share those educational resources that you’ve made in a new way, in a way that’s accessible for people not directly in your classroom or talking with you at a conference 1-on-1. You can actually help more people with the hard work you’ve already done just by sharing it.
There’s so many things you can share on your personal website related to teaching. I thought I’d list a few for those listening: your syllabi, course descriptions, any videos, or tools like PDF resources or guides. That can go on your personal academic website. If you find that it’s helpful for you or your students, I’ve had professor clients who actually create lists of internal resources and external resources at their university that they regularly share with not just one class, but multiple. Putting that on their personal website creates a kind of home for it where your students can go to find those resources when it makes sense for them.
I want you to know that your website can be a portfolio. And that portfolio can be for the job market, it can be for grants like Dr. McAplin said. It can also be for your students. There’s so many ways to share the amazing teaching and educating you do online. I want you to not hide from that if you have resources to share.
Jennifer: Dr. McAplin, why did you actually choose to share the videos on your website? I think that’s the step a lot of people are missing. They create things, but they don’t always decide to share them. What prompted you to actually share the videos and the resources you helped create?
Elizabeth: We’re proud of the work that was done. We want to show what’s possible. We’re not creating things for National Geographic or some NOVA high-production value thing. It doesn’t have to be that. But we took as much time and care as we possibly could with very little budget at all to make these resources. So it’s just to show examples of what’s possible and change a little bit the narrative. We get comfortable lecturing, but when we don’t have a visual idea for our students for what we’re talking about as we’re talking about it…we don’t want to cause a cognitive dissonance with that information either. Thinking carefully about the words with the imagery or short clips of documentaries or films that go along with what we’re saying to describe as examples of what we’re talking about. As long as they’re relevant and not overdoing it, I think it’s a good way to connect what we say with our eyes. We process these two things simultaneously, so we have that cognitive ability to do so, and we should take advantage of that ability.
What we try to encourage with faculty and to try and make it a more enriching experience for our students.
Jennifer: That is beautiful. I’m so glad we got to talk about this today. Elizabeth, is there anything else you’d like to add about your website, or about the amazing work you do at NYU?
Elizabeth: I list [on my website] that I do workshops at the university. I get asked to do talks within the university. Those are important things to share, like this conversation. We have something at NYU called Teach Talks through the Provost department and there’s some other departments that do similar things, that connect with faculty to talk about things like their assessment practices, pedagogical practices. We haven’t really had one that talks about their research. That might be a missing link we could try to fill, which is more what my area is, on the research end.
These are great resources for faculty to connect with other faculty, to learn about more ways to do things, to inspire them to do things differently, and to take a leadership role forward in that department. That’s more or less what I provide on my website.
Jennifer: That’s amazing. I’m so glad you have your website. And, that I was able to explore it so we could have this conversation today.
It makes such a difference when people are open to sharing a little bit more about themselves. So I’m happy you were open to coming on The Social Academic to talk with me. Anything else you’d like to add?
Elizabeth: If anyone has any questions, I’m available to answer them.
Jennifer: Wonderful. Well thank you so much for listening to this new episode of The Social Academic. Be sure to share it with a friend if you think they’d find it helpful. And, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode.
I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. I’ve been in conversation with Dr. Elizabeth McAplin. I’m so excited to share this episode with you.
Elizabeth: Thank you Jennifer for asking me to participate.
Dr. Elizabeth McAlpin is the Director of Educational Technology Research at NYU Information Technology. Her team assists faculty in scholarly research on teaching and learning strategies when enhanced with technology to improve student learning. She holds an undergraduate degree from Denison University, an Ed.M. in instructional technology and media from Teachers College, and an M.A. and Ph.D in educational communication and technology from New York University. In addition to her full-time position, she also teaches as an adjunct at NYU. Her interests include educational technology research, effective educational design, innovative pedagogy and assessment, and educational technology and media for all kinds of learning experiences.
Update: It’s official! We’ll be back for another contest in early 2025. Jennifer, Brittany, and Ian look forward to your entry next year.
Your personal academic website is a wonderful thing. Professors, researchers, scientists, graduate students, and independent scholars who make their website a reality should be celebrated. That’s why I created the Best Personal Academic Websites Contest last year with my co-hosts Brittany Trinh and Dr. Ian Li.
The 2023 award-winning personal academic websites we’re showcasing today are some of the best examples to learn from. I hope exploring their websites inspires you to create your own. Check out winners from the 2nd annual Best Personal Academic Websites Contest.
The Best Personal Academic Websites Contest is brought to you by Jennifer van Alstyne, Brittany Trinh, and Ian Li.
About the contest
The Best Personal Academic Websites Contest was open from July 17 through September 30, 2023. Entries were free. The contest recognizes the best personal websites of
Faculty
Professors
Scientists
Postdocs
Grad students
Independent researchers
Our goal was to award your hard work. And, to create this resource of great examples of personal websites along with with last year’s winners with notes from the judges.
2023 Winners of the Best Personal Academic Websites Contest
Congratulations to our winners, Dr. Sheena Howard, Dr. Seth-Aaron Martinez, Dr. Jarrett Dillenburger, Dr. Guy Cameron, Dr. Alex E. Stern, Dr. Yalidy Matos, Dr. Zoe R. Smith, Dr. Aloysius Soon, Kantwon Rogers, Jared Boyce, Dr. Melanie Sindelar, and Dr. Fuschia-Ann Hoover.
2023 Award Categories
Overall Best Personal Academic Website Award
The top 3 websites tied with perfect scores. We are celebrating overall top 3 websites from Dr. Sheena Howard, Dr. Seth-Aaron Martinez, and Dr. Jarrett Dillenburger. Congratulations!
Your websites excelled in every judged category (Website Content, Website Design and Organization, About You, Portfolio, Contact Info). You are the best examples of personal academic websites.
Dr. Sheena Howard
Dr. Sheena Howard created her website “to highlight my work, skills and accomplishments in a way that best aligns with who I am. In addition, to be able to have a closer relationship with the people that are most interested in my work.”
She’d love to acknowledge the website designer, Alesha Randolph.
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: I love how Dr. Howard’s work and personality is very present throughout the website. She highlights her work by posting on her blog to announce any recent news and photos. The homepage of the website is also set up to showcase her publications and features. Finally, the contact page is used well, as it not only functions as a contact page, but also a media kit for potential speaking gigs.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Colorful, personal, and full of stories, Dr. Sheena Howard’s website shows how there’s no limits to being yourself. A great example of how to share your forthcoming book, like her Academic Branding: A Step-by-Step Guide to Increased Visibility, Authority, and Income, online. This website shares Dr. Howard’s story and media appearances along with a well-organized creative portfolio.
Dr. Ian Li: I really liked Dr. Howard’s website because of the breadth of content that she shares. She has a lot of experiences and accomplishments, which shows through on her website. Dr. Howard shares her academic publications and books, her documentaries and media appearances, and her blog posts.
Dr. Seth-Aaron Martinez created his website “to provide a single source of information for all of my scholarship and professional work.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: My favorite page on Dr. Martinez’s website is the Consulting page. I like how he establishes credibility in his field by including the logos for organizations that he’s worked with along with testimonials. His website is a great example for other professors who want to incorporate their consulting work with their academic work.
Jennifer van Alstyne: With a clean design, simple structure, and friendly About page, this is a website to remember. I wish the About page and the homepage were combined because Dr. Seth-Aaron Martinez’ bio was memorable. I especially like the descriptive Media mentions page for his YouTube video and podcast appearances.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Martinez shares a breadth of content on his website. He shares his academic publications and dissertation and his media appearances. I really appreciate that he shared his research philosophy and biography, so you learn more about him as a person. He also shares his consulting services and how his expertise can help organizations.
Dr. Jarrett Dillenburger, “decided to create a personal academic website because it’s challenging to regulate and manage the data and information circulating about us on websites that we cannot modify or keep up-to-date. With my personal website, I gain the power to control what information is accessible to others and how they view it online. The ability to curate my portfolio of research and present the best possible image of myself is crucial for establishing a strong and professional online presence.”
He says, “My current website was designed and built by myself (through many iterations). I fully expect my website to continue to develop and morph as my career does. I have tried my best to create an adaptive design that will allow for future changes easily. My designs and layouts have been influenced by many academic website designers including Jennifer van Alstyne and Brittany Trinh!”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: This is a great example of a personal academic website for a chemist! It was built on Google Sites, which just goes to show that it’s not about the platform you use, but how you use it. I like how he incorporates other aspects of his career as a scientist, including his science communication and interest in space science.
Jennifer van Alstyne: This website is well organized for curious website visitors. It’s a deceptively simple website that doesn’t feel overwhelming. You discover more as you’re curious about exploring each page. Then you find new, more specific resources. On the Chemistry page, I love that there’s the Scientific Abstract typically published with articles and a Non-Scientist Abstract too! It would be great if media mentions got their own space as a page on this website.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Dillenburger’s website is very clear in what his academic website offers: SciComm, Material Science, and Space Science. For each of these topics, Dr. Dillenburger shares a wealth of academic content such as publications, media appearances, and coaching services.
Owlstown is a website builder specifically designed for academics. It is designed for ease of use and maintenance, so you can focus on sharing your research work. Congratulations to Dr. Guy Cameron for having the best Owlstown website!
Dr. Guy Cameron
Dr. Guy Cameron says, “I created my personal academic website to share my journey through medicine and scientific research, and my experiences as a proud Wailwan (Aboriginal) man living in Newcastle, NSW. Through my website, I aim to inspire others by showcasing my achievements in academia and research, especially in the field of Immunology & Microbiology. I also want to highlight the importance of Indigenous representation in the medical and research fields, and the significant role that collaboration and community-driven approaches play in improving healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. My website reflects my commitment to being a #MentorFirst, where I aspire to guide and support others, particularly those from Indigenous backgrounds, to achieve their academic and career goals.”
Notes from the Judges
Ian did not judge Dr. Cameron’s website for this contest.
Brittany Trinh: I liked how he personalized his Owlstown website with visuals that are relevant to his research. I also like how he delineates his role in each research project and provides a thorough description of each project.
Jennifer van Alstyne: With memorable details like that he’s a proud catdad, Dr. Guy Cameron is as descriptive about himself as his research. I like that his Research projects page includes details beyond a project description including project status, scheme, role on the project, and the team who worked on it. Dr. Cameron’s Publications page shares abstracts and figures. A great example of a detailed portfolio with an Owlstown website.
How do you showcase all the work you do on a personal website? By creating engaging pages for people to explore. We’re excited to award the Best Portfolio Award to Dr. Alex E. Stern and Dr. Yalidy Matos. Congratulations!
Dr. Alex E. Stern
Dr. Alex Stern, “initially created my personal website when I went on the academic job market. During several interviews, faculty members explicitly commented that they had seen my website and were interested in how I had put it together. It gave me a small but positive boost as a candidate for assistant professor roles. My website allows me to take a leading role in how my work is presented to colleagues, students, and the public and has helped me develop a cohesive narrative of my motivations, accomplishments, and future goals as a scholar. My website is entirely my own creation and I am self-taught.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: Dr. Stern’s teaching page stands out to me because of how she clearly states her teaching objectives for students and course descriptions for the classes that she teaches and a photo that complements it. Her research page also highlights a current book project that is in progress and links it to the project’s separate website.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Yes! You can definitely share a book project in progress. Dr. Alex E. Stern’s website effectively shares her research, public writing, and teaching. I love that Dr. Stern’s portfolio has the same care for Media mentions as Courses on her Teaching page. Advising / Mentoring pages are becoming more popular. I like that Dr. Stern creates space to celebrate her students’ theses, projects, and publications on her website. With engaging visuals, descriptions, and thoughtful design, this is a great portfolio website to inspire academics.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Stern’s website is a great showcase of her work. In her website, Dr. Stern shares her academic research, public writing, course descriptions, and appearances in events and media. It’s not just a list, instead, she provides summaries, so you can be informed whether you want to dig deeper into learning more about each work.
Dr. Yalidy Matos’ academic website “needed a revamp. As an academic, my website serves as a central location to find information about my writing.”
She says, “I’d like to acknowledge Jennifer van Alstyne, who helped me develop the concepts and ideas, pulled out information from our interviews that are really important to who I am as an academic, and helped design the foundation of the website.”
Notes from the Judges
Jennifer did not judge Dr. Matos’s website for this contest.
Brittany Trinh: Dr. Matos’ website is a stellar example for a professor-level website that is designed specifically to land new opportunities. I like how the research page gives a broad overview, then the “About This Research” gives a deeper description of the research, highlights the relevant works/publications, and provides an offer to speak for those relevant topics after establishing her authority.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Matos’s website offers a comprehensive view of her work. She shares her publications, writings, courses, and speaking engagements. She presents each work with a detailed description and links to more information, so you can explore her work in more detail.
We’re excited to present the Best Google Site award to Dr. Zoe R. Smith. Congratulations on making your Google Site stand out!
Dr. Zoe R. Smith / ACCTION Lab
Dr. Zoe R. Smith says, “I wanted our work to be more accessible to our community and students, as a way to disseminate information and also promote the amazing work the ACCTION team does! I also realized that I had skills that were marketable and wanted a place to showcase them, like statistics consulting and workshops. I also wanted to make sure students could get to know what it’s like to work with me and to highlight students’ work so people can see the new exciting things everyone is working on!” She created the website herself.
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: The ACCTION Lab is a fun and colorful Google Site! I like their “prospective students” page, which outlines very clearly what the PI is looking for in an application.
Jennifer van Alstyne: The colors and branding of the ACCTION Lab flow through each page of this website. Great for visitors who like to skim when reading, this is a great example of using headings and drop downs to organize the written content on your website. I like the Frequently Asked Questions for prospective PhD students interested in joining the lab. I love that the People who are members of the lab are celebrated on their own page with bios that include their photo, pronouns, education, research interests, goals and what I do for fun. “Dr. Z,” as she goes by in her bio, shares what she likes to do for fun in her bio too! I get the personality of this lab and their research.
Dr. Ian Li: The ACCTION Lab website is a great example of a lab website. It’s well-organized with lots of content about the work of the lab. It has a dedicated page of lab members and some of their group activities. The website also shares resources for prospective students and mental health information.
Creating a website for your research lab or group helps everyone. We’re excited to share the Materials Theory Group website as an example for you. Congratulations, Dr. Aloysius Soon!
Dr. Aloysius Soon / Materials Theory Group
Dr. Aloysius Soon made the Materials Theory Group website “for publicity and to keep a record of the overall performance of my research group.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: As a current graduate student and chemist, I think that this is an awesome example of a lab website made with Google Sites. The homepage highlights their notable papers, making it easy for people to find the right papers to start with. They incorporated their figures into the website to make it more engaging and interesting to look at. I also love how they have videos to promote their group, along with having text in both Korean and English. Finally, my favorite page is the Gallery, which shows annual group photos, which shows the overall group’s personality. It seems like a cool place to do science!
Jennifer van Alstyne: This lab website shares their specific goal, and a description of the group’s focus. It also welcomes students interested in joining the Materials Theory Group right on the homepage. Dr. Aloysius Soon has a page about himself on the website which feels well balanced with the Team pages. I especially like that this research group website considers current researchers and staff as well as alumni and collaborators. A well-organized way of sharing grants and research funding on this website. Despite having many pages with descriptive, detailed information, this website doesn’t feel overwhelming.
Dr. Ian Li: The Materials Theory Group exemplifies the qualities of a great lab website. It has lots of information about the activities of the lab, including research publications, patents, and conferences. The website also has a gallery of lab members and a gallery of group pictures, so you can learn more about the people that do the research.
Telling your story is powerful and memorable. We’re excited to award the Best Storytelling Award to Kantwon Rogers! Congratulations.
Kantwon Rogers
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: I love this website because of the voice/personality that shines through on the page, through the colors, word choice, and images! It’s also unique in that it is a 1 page website, but has more than everything you need to know, by telling the story in order.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Large font and bright, colorful personality. This PhD student website is one of the best examples I’ve seen of sharing who you are through the aesthetic look and feel of your personal website. 1-page websites can be overwhelming to scroll. Kantwon’s website is exciting to explore. It works as a portfolio, linking to things like his CV, publications with downloadable PDFs, and a sample syllabus. I love that it shares videos Kantwon created for his courses at Georgia Tech too. A beautiful website.
Dr. Ian Li: Kantwon’s website is lively and engaging. Browsing through his website, you get a great sense of his personality and his research. He also presents his academic content in an organized manner and in a variety of media (papers, video, podcasts). He also shares a lot of videos teaching concepts about computing and engineering.
This award goes to a memorable bio on a personal academic website. We’re happy to award Jared Boyce for his academic bio.
Jared Boyce
Jared Boyce “decided to make a personal academic website in order to share more about myself and build my brand as a scientist. I’m an MD-PhD student at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. I’m interested in becoming a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and studying the neurobiology of early life trauma. My personal website serves as a place where potential collaborators, recruiters, etc. can see my CV, learn about my advocacy, research, and clinical interests, and learn more about who I am beyond my CV.” He says, “I used Brittany Trinh’s website for guidance.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany did not judge Jared’s website for this contest, but has shared a note about it for you.
Dr. Ian Li: Jared writes about his experiences and describes what motivated him to pursue medicine and his research. His story engages viewers and invites them to care about the research. His page on his advocacy is great too because it shows the breadth of his interests.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Jared Boyce’s website feels retro in a good way. His About page shares his personality, family, and journey. This website doesn’t just tell you what Jared does, he shows you why he cares about it too. A great example of how to share your Advocacy and the values important to you. I love the personal photos on this website.
Brittany Trinh: Jared and I have become friends while studying at UW-Madison, so I didn’t judge his website. What I love about his website is how he wrote his bio and integrated his story and motivation for pursuing medicine and research throughout his website.
Some academics are also amazing entrepreneurs. We’re excited to give the Best Academic Entrepreneur Award to Dr. Melanie Sindelar. Congratulations!
Dr. Melanie Sindelar
Dr. Melanie Sindelar created her website “to showcase my academic and freelance work, to make my coaching, editing, and translation business more visible, and to attract new clients! I used Canva’s Brand Kit tool to design the logo and the Color Palette, Brand Colours, and Fonts. I wanted my brand to appeal to academics, artists, and institutions (my main clients) while using a muted and reduced color palette that remains timeless.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: Dr. Sindelar’s coaching webpage is very in-depth about the services she offers and provides clear directions on how to work with her. The packages, pricing, and process are transparent, so you know exactly what she can help you with.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Calm. That’s how I felt exploring Dr. Melanie Sindelar’s website from the color palette to the easy navigation. Unapologetic about being a researcher, editor, coach, and teacher, this shows your website can adapt to share all of your identities (if you want it to). Many academic entrepreneur websites I see remove research and/or teaching altogether. This one feels approachable for a variety of audiences. I especially like that Dr. Sindelar’s Research page is descriptive about her interests and shares related publications.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Sindelar is a good example of how an academic website can share academic work and teaching as well as other entrepreneurial services. In addition to a Research page, Dr. Sindelar’s website has pages for coaching and translation. Each page has detailed description of how Dr. Sindelar’s expertise can help you.
A new award to honor the best looking website of the pack. Congratulations to Dr. Fuschia-Ann Hoover! This beautiful personal academic website is one to admire.
Dr. Fuschia-Ann Hoover
Dr. Fuschia-Ann Hoover says, “I wanted to have a public facing representation of my work, and a research profile that was independent of my affiliation, employer, and business. This allows me to control my own narrative, and in a way that stays with me regardless of where my career takes me.” She’d like to thank the photographers credited on her website.
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: Dr. Hoover’s website is minimal with an artsy aesthetic to it. Her portraits show that your headshots or photos for your website don’t always have to look the same as everyone else’s.
Jennifer van Alstyne: While there’s an About page with a more traditional bio, Dr. Hoover’s homepage is an excellent example of how to share who you are in different ways. I get a feel for who she is and what she cares about in an easy-to-read way because of how big the font is on Dr. Fushcia-Ann Hoover’s homepage (which I love). The photos on her website compliment the clean, modern design. Green comes in through the photos on Dr. Hoover’s website through trees, landscapes, and even her blazer. It’s a beautiful way to visually relate to her environmental research, using green in the photos rather than in the design of the website itself.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Hoover’s website is aesthetically pleasing with its clean and modern design. Its navigation is easy to use and each page has engaging images along with the text. I felt calm and engaged while browsing through her website.
A big thank you to all our contest entrants. We’re so lucky to have you inspiring the world.
Your website will be added to The Academic Gallery on Owlstown. Thank you for being an amazing example. A website is a big project. You should be proud of sharing who you are and what you do with the world.
We created this contest to help as many people as possible. I hope these personal website examples encourage you to make your own website! Some of our award winners did-it-themselves, others hired help. They all made their personal website work for them. You can too.
Please bookmark this page. Share it with your friends. Make your website a reality. And don’t feel like it needs to be “finished” to hit publish.
Hosts
Brittany Trinhis a website strategist and designer for STEM leaders. She helps grad students, scientists, and academics create impact-driven websites so they can level up in their careers & get paid for their expertise. She’s currently a chemistry PhD student at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ian Li is the creator of Owlstown, the website builder for academics. Owlstown websites are easy to make and maintain, so you can focus on your research. With templates for various research artifacts, Owlstown allows you to present your research in various ways to inspire and inform others.
Jennifer van Alstyne helps professors feel confident when showing up online. The Academic Designer LLC is a minority woman-owned business helping academics share their research, teaching, and leadership on websites and social media since 2018. The Social Academic blog, podcast, and YouTube channel helps professors manage their online presence to build a strong digital footprint.
7 free resources for creating your own personal academic website
Our goal is to help as many people as possible. Here are free resources from Ian Li of Owlstown, Brittany Trinh Creative, and The Academic Designer LLC to help you make your website. Please share with your friends.
The 2nd annual Best Personal Academic Websites Contest was hosted by Jennifer van Alstyne, Brittany Trinh, and Dr. Ian Li.
Jennifer van Alstyne, Brittany Trinh, and Dr. Ian Li talk about the best personal academic website hosts. You’ll get a demo of Owlstown. Watch our fireside chat about personal academic websites where we answer your questions.
Thinking about a personal academic website? Whether you want a do-it-yourself website or you’re thinking about hiring help, we hope the replay of our live event helps you. Have a photo of you, your bio, and your social media links? You have everything you need to set up a simple website with Owlstown, a free website builder for academics. Once you make your website, enter it in our Best Personal Academic Websites Contest to win one of multiple awards.
This event was recorded live on August 1, 2023 as part of The Best Personal Academic Websites Contest to help you set up your website.
Jennifer: Hi everyone! My name is Jennifer van Alstyne. Welcome to Setting Up Your Personal Academic Website. My name is Jennifer. I’m talking today with my friends Brittany Trinh who makes websites for scientists, and Dr. Ian Li from Owlstown, which is an academic website
builder for you all to check out. We’re going to have a demo of that today. We’re also going to talk about the most frequently asked questions when it comes to having your own personal website. Just to get us started, my name is Jennifer van Alstyne. I own The Academic Designer LLC where since 2018 I’ve been helping professors have a strong online presence so they can talk about their research and teaching. To really feel comfortable when they show up online. I help people with social media, bio writing, and websites. And I really love my work. But there’s so many people out there who want to D.I.Y. to do-it-yourself for your website. I was excited to put this event together with Brittany and Ian as part of our annual Best Personal Academic Websites Contest. Brittany, would you introduce yourself?
Brittany: Hi, everyone! My name is Brittany Trinh. I am a website strategist and designer for early career researchers. I’m also a third year PhD student in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I’ve been doing this since 2019, and I just really love helping the grad students and early career scientists, even like anybody at any stage, create their website. I think it’s really important for your personal development and your career development. As well, it’s a great place to show off your skills a little bit more about yourself. I also have a podcast called Beyond Your Science, so you can check that out. I’m really excited to chat with you all today.
Jennifer: Ian, please introduce yourself and let us know all about Owlstown too.
Ian: Sure thanks Jennifer hi I’m Ian and I’m the creator of Owlstown. I finished my PhD a long time ago, about 10 years ago now. I remember being in grad school and working on my website. I thought it was a good way to share my work with others. I thought that I could help others make their websites so they can share their work easily. About five years ago, I started working on Owlstown as a hobby. And also a way for it to help other people build their website. Owlstown’s mission has been to make it super easy to make an academic website. I will demo that later and also I’m looking forward to answering questions that people might have about how to share their research online and what things to share about the academic work. Thank you.
Why should academics have a website?
Jennifer: Thank you. You know the biggest question that comes up from academics kind of whatever stage they are in their career is: Is a website right for me? Should I have a website? Why should I have one? Let me know what do you guys think? Why should academics have a website?
Ian: I can answer that first. One reason is we’re in 2023 and people are gonna look for your name on search engines. You want something that you control that will show up on those search engines. If they search for your name, you want it to be a website that you have control over what content shows up. A website is a great way to share what you want to share, like your papers, your posters, an introduction about yourself, and a lot more content about your research.
Jennifer: Brittany what about you? Why should early early career researchers, why should people have a website?
Brittany: I think that early career researchers should have a website because, like Ian said, people will search for you on search engines and things like that. Having a LinkedIn is good. And your CV has a lot of things that you do. But it’s not everything that you do. And there’s a lot more sides to you that you can’t necessarily fit in your LinkedIn or CV because it may not be as relevant or something. But your website is a way to kind of show off that creativity. And it’s also possibly a way to maybe venture into an entrepreneurial side hustle or things like that if that’s something you’re interested in which is like what I did for myself prior to going to grad school and a little bit even right now too. I think that having the website opens you up to like so many more possibilities and opportunities for people to connect with you, with your work, and then maybe learn about services or things like that if that’s something you choose to offer. I think it’s just mostly a space that you can create and make your own and do whatever you want with it. And also right now we’re really in the content creator era I guess. Making a personal brand and just like becoming known for something is also important. Showing people not just what you do, but what you really value, what you’re passionate about. That is something that you can also showcase on your personal website.
Jennifer: I love that. You know I think one thing that you both talked about is having control. Having control over what people find about you when they search online. But also, having control that they’re finding the things that you value and care about, not the things that you know are standard in a CV or that you’re going to find necessarily on your faculty profile. I really feel like having your own space like a personal website having your own space that’s outside of your University, outside of your affiliation, makes such a lasting difference. I even have retired academics reach out to me because now that their faculty profile is just gone completely, they need somewhere to still share the hard work that they’ve done and the ways that they’re helping people. So it’s not like it’s ever too early or too late to create a website for your research, your teaching, the service that you do, and the things you care about. There are so many reasons to have a website, so many different ones that have surprised me whether it’s wanting to share your book, share your research, and connect better with your students. I mean there’s just so many options. I have a poll for you all, for everyone who’s in the audience.
I want to know how long have you wanted a website? Answer this poll. Let me know how long have you wanted a personal academic website. Is it something that’s been on your to-do list for a while? Or, is it something that’s new? Maybe some of you are like, “I don’t know if a website is right for me, that’s why I’m here.” That’s okay too.
All right, let’s see. For some of you, this has been on your to-do list for a long time. You’ve been wanting a personal academic website, and my guess is there’s something that’s been holding you back from making it. Feel free to let me know in the chat. If you’ve recently been inspired to want a website, I’m so glad you’re here. I mean this is the perfect event because we’re gonna help you make sure that you approach this project with a strategy, a plan in mind and think about your long-term goal. I’m excited. A few of you already have a personal website. Let me know how long you’ve had your website for in the chat.
Will my university be angry if I make my own website?
Jennifer: Okay, now one thing I wanted to ask you both before we move on. It’s a fear or anxiety that I’ve heard multiple times from a few people: Will my University get angry at me? Will they get mad if I make my own website? Do they not want me to do this? I have an answer based on my interactions with University Administration and with people who run social media and marketing for universities. But I want to hear from you both. In your experience, have you ever seen anyone get mad at someone for having a personal website?
Brittany: In my personal experience I don’t know about university, but I do know from working in Industry. This wasn’t directly related to my website, but I wanted to do something more in the online space and I asked for permission, which was not the way to go. I should always ask for forgiveness. But I would also say that I don’t know if the university would care. They just seem quite large unless you were very prominent or something. Then maybe they would care. But, I think Jennifer you might probably have the most expertise in this area.
Jennifer: No, that’s fine. I think that’s a perfect example because sometimes if you have an employer or a partnership outside of the University, they do have a strong opinion about it. One of my professor clients, for instance, worked for the military. And the military did not want her specifically to have a website. That’s fine. We found other ways for her to have an online presence. But when it comes to your University, mostly they want their professors to have a stronger online presence because you represent the university and the research that you do is awesome for the University. They want more people to know about it. They want more people to know about the awesome teaching you’re doing and how you’re affecting students. I mean it makes a big difference for them in terms of revenue. I mean I’m not gonna lie, it’s definitely about marketing and money for them, but it’s also about championing the resources that they give you, your lab, your ability to do research on campus, the teaching that you do.
If they give you innovative classes they get really excited about that. I am not going to lie to you, they are looking at your website because they want to see how it helps them. They’re not going to look at your website to see how it makes them mad. Now, one caveat to that is if you have highly confidential information that you’re not allowed to share. That’s something that you might want to check with your University about. One example of that is from a research lab, they had some specific equipment that their University didn’t want them to list as being in their lab just for security reasons. And so there may be some opportunities where you do want to ask permission. But other than that, I agree with Brittany. Go ahead and make your website. And if someone has a problem you know they’ll let you know and you can decide where to go from there. Ian, do you have anything you’d like to add?
Ian: Yeah. From my experience, I had a website in undergrad. And then in grad school, I went to a different school. I also started a website there. I used initially the servers that were provided by the university. And then at some point, I got my own domain name just so that in case I did move, I’d still have control over my own name. I think the university provides the space to share your work so I think they do want you to share your work online. They provide a space to do that. Now, whether it needs to be under the institution’s name or your own domain name, I think that could be up to you. In my case, I was shifting institutions. I wanted to have my own space so I didn’t have to move it. And also, the spaces that I had at my undergrad and my grad school eventually disappeared. It was good that I had my own domain name to kind of hold all that information.
How do I choose the best host for my personal website?
Jennifer: I love that. I feel like space is disappearing is a key reason why some academics reach out to me. I work with academics on really planning strategically their website.
Many professors are thinking about much more extensive websites than the typical person is looking for. But it’s always about, “what do I do? How do I not make the wrong decision when I’m first getting started?” And that’s why I wanted to talk to you both about personal academic website hosts. Because the first question people have when it comes to making their website is where do I even host my website? Ian, I know you’ve created a wonderful option with Owlstown, but there are a few different options that people can choose from. What are the options, Brittany?
Brittany: Yeah. For me, the two that I usually like to champion for people who are starting out would be Google Sites, which is free and it’s available in your Google Drive account. You can start making one there. It’s really good because you can still have some customizability. But everything is pretty like drag-and-drop, so if you know how to use PowerPoint or something like it, you’re good to go. You don’t need to worry about coding or anything. And then the other one I like to recommend is just like the free WordPress.com. That’s what I started out with when I was an undergrad because I wanted to blog. I think it’s good for blogging. And it’s a good introduction to what websites can do. But then of course once you kind of want to level-up then there are even more options. But maybe that’s a little bit further down the line. But yeah, those are the two I would recommend. Of course, Owlstown too. But we’ll see that later.
Jennifer: That’s great! Yes I love Google Sites, especially a beginner option. But I like Owlstown for academics more. Especially if you’re looking for something simple because Owlstown already makes it easy for you to drop things into that are specific for academics. But when it comes to free sites, WordPress.com I totally agree with. That’s my number one pick for academics. It’s what I recommend for all of my clients. Now, some people like using Squarespace. That has great features as well. I don’t typically recommend Wix.com. I know Brittany and I have talked about this before on my podcast, The Social Academic. Wix has issues. Many of my clients come to me with an old Wix website that is just practically impossible for them to update. I don’t recommend it for those reasons. What about you? Anything else that you don’t recommend when it comes to making your own website?
Brittany: Also in my personal experience, Weebly was not the greatest. It works. And I know a lot of people have made websites on Weebly, but I would say that if you haven’t made one yet, maybe not to try. It’s because with Weebly, there’s a lot of functionality that’s usually extra like you have to pay for it. But from other websites, it’s already included which kind of bothers me on principle. So, I don’t recommend [Weebly] for that reason.
Jennifer: Great. Ian, do you have any website hosts that you just don’t recommend?
Ian: I don’t know if I have ones that I don’t recommend. It’ll depend on how much time you have and how much effort you want to put in. I think some people choose to set up their own server and make their own website that way, like I did in undergrad. I guess I didn’t set up my own server, but I made my own website. I had too much time on my hands and in grad school I did set up my own server. Again, I think I maybe had too much time.
But it just depends on how much time you have and how much effort you want to put into it. I think there’s outside of Squarespace, Weebly, WordPress, some people choose to do like GitHub pages. My own personal website I think is GitHub pages. There’s a lot of free options like that. I think that when you’re thinking about when making the website you want to think about how much time you want to put into it, how much money, on top of what you want to share on your website. What I would recommend is focus on what you want to share rather than focusing on what would be the technology that you would use to make the website. Because learning HTML, JavaScript, and CSS can take up a lot of time. I know it. I do websites all the time so I know how much time it takes. You don’t you don’t want to get your PhD in HTML and CSS. You’re working on your PhD in whatever field you’re in and you want to share that and as much as possible spend the time on how you want to present your work and focus on that.
Jennifer: I completely agree with everything you said. Yeah. If you don’t want to learn CSS, JavaScript, or HTML, you don’t want to learn how to code for your website. Don’t try to build it from scratch. It’s not worth your time and honestly it means that you have to go back and make changes and updates using that same method. That can be okay now, but maybe you won’t have that time in the future. When it comes to exactly what Ian was talking about: time, effort, what do you want to focus your energy on? I agree, focusing your energy on what you say, why you’re saying it, and who you’re saying it to is what’s going to make the difference for your personal academic website. And I think that’s why Owlstown is such a good solution. Now I want to caveat and say that if you’re going to have a blog, I really do recommend WordPress and WordPress.com is a great option. That’s because blogging has been done by them for so long they’re going to continue to have very focused blogging Features. But Owlstown, if you want a website and blogging is not guaranteed something you want to do this year.
A demo of Owlstown, a free academic website builder
Jennifer: Let’s talk about Owlstown because this is an academic website builder that is meant to be easy so that you can focus on what you’re seeing and who you’re saying it to. And not on learning how to make your website.
Ian, can you tell us about Owlstown?
Ian: Owlstown compared to the other tools out there is only for academics. The idea is that it has templates that are focused on academics. So you can post your publications, your projects that you work on, courses that you teach, people that you collaborate with, and some blogging features. And also, you can post your CV and other pages that you might want to add on top of your publications and projects. As much as possible, Owlstown tries to get the way of fiddling with the design and the HTML so that you can focus on the content that you’re sharing. I’ve been working on it for about 5 years now. It’s a passion project and I really enjoy working on it. I’m looking forward to sharing it.
Jennifer: That’s great. Will you actually share your screen and give us a little demo of it now? Because if you did bring your bio, headshot, and your social media links with you today, this is so fast to set up. You’ll have time to do it while we’re talking today. Ian, why don’t you show us a demo of Owlstown?
For those of you who are listening, if you have questions drop them in the chat. We’re going to have time for Q&A after our discussion.
Ian sharing his screen: Okay. We’ll make a website. You can find it at Owlstown.com. First, we’re just gonna go through the ‘Create your free website’ [button] here. It’s going to welcome you with a Welcome Page.
Let’s get started. First, when I make this website I’ll put my own information. But you can put in your own information here. As you can see, as I’m filling out the fields here, the website is changing. I’ll set up an image here, but for now I’ll just set up a letter so we can go through this quickly. Here I can just do a short bio. I won’t spend too much time on this. This is something when you’re starting out you can probably just do something quickly. The note here is this is the 1st thing that people will do. This is the first page that people will see, so it might be good to kind of describe what you’re working on and something more about yourself.
Next and here’s one of the things that also when you’re creating a website is that you also have your social links. You might want to share several of your social links here. I have an example of my Twitter account, but you can share your ORCiD [identifier], ResearchGate, your Google Scholar page. If you have Instagram or a YouTube channel you can share it here. You can add those links. And, there’s more options here, for example, if you have Academia.edu, if you have a GitHub page, and so on and so forth.
The next one here is when you start creating an Owlstown website, it randomly picks a theme. Right now the theme it’s using is Flannel. But you can quickly switch, one of the things I mentioned earlier about reducing the friction of fiddling with your website. With Owlstown, changing your theme is just a click away. I click on a theme and it changes immediately. I don’t have to set up any HTML or any CSS. And then I can pick a color. I can also change a font. Again, I’m just clicking through and picking which ones I like. For now, I’ll pick out one of the fonts I like, Lotto. The other thing that you can do is also add your publications. And it’s just another just a click away. I’ve typed in my name, I searched for it, and then among [these entries], I have to figure out which one is mine. This one’s mine right here. I can just click on my name and my publications are automatically included. Okay, and done!
In this case, I have a website with some information about myself, an introduction and some publications. Then, if I want to edit some more things, I can. For example, I can add descriptions from my projects, people that I work with, courses that I teach, and blog posts. Then, if I want to publish this website I can create an account. Then, I can select the domain name that it will be published in.
Jennifer: That was so much easier than any other website creator that I’ve seen. I love how tailored it is for academics. Even when you get to the end and you get to the site editor, it’s giving you options that academics typically need like adding collaborators. That’s wonderful!
Let me ask this question because so many people feel like when they find a website host there’s not really a customer service on the other end. Let’s say you’re creating an Owlstown website. What can people do if they have a question?
Ian: Good question. One of the things that people do is they can contact me through Twitter or email. I try to respond quickly. Usually people email me. Most of the ideas for features for Owlstwon came from suggestions from users. They would email me: “I would like this feature on Owlstown.” If it fits with the goals of Owlstown, I usually try to add it. Also people contact me through Twitter. Just either post mentioning me, or sending a [direct message] D.M. and I answer. I try to answer as quickly as possible, usually there’s a turn back to time of within a day.
Jennifer: I love how personalized that is! So many of my clients, I have them at WordPress.com and they upgrade to the point in which they get good customer service. But it doesn’t always come with that free plan. One of my recent sales calls actually said she loves her small website host because of that personalized experience: when she emails she actually gets a response. That’s the experience you’re gonna get with Ian over at Owlstown for academics. That’s excellent! I’m so glad I asked you about that. Thank you for giving us a demo.
If you want to set up your Owlstown website now you know how. Based on our time, we’re going to keep going and talking about questions. I have another poll for you. Let’s open it up [not seen in replay]. Okay, we’re going to talk about website page ideas. What pages do you want for your personal academic website? Look at this poll and let me know. Check all of the pages that you’re kind of interested in having for your personal website. There’s so many options! And on Owlstown you can do a lot of these pages and add your own. There’s a lot of flexibility to grow your website over time but remember you can start with just one page (I’ve most recommended the About page).
Answer the poll. Let me know what pages you are interested in for your personal academic website. If there’s a page you don’t see here, let us know in the chat. This was the maximum number of options that Zoom let me add. Alright, looks like everyone has responded. Let me share the poll with you all.
Yay! Everyone definitely wants an About page. That’s exciting. Research and Teaching are super popular. Yeah. Many people want to share their Writing and Publications. That’s great! One of the things that I like about Owlstown is that you can add information to your Publications. You can add an abstract. So don’t think that just because it’s just letting you add those things in the list that you can’t make that even more engaging with abstracts. Okay, people are also interested in sharing Speaking Engagements and maybe some News and Media mentions. Definitely Contact. I love it. I love it. This is great.
Where should I start when adding pages to my academic personal website?
Jennifer: Brittany and Ian, where should people start when it comes to what pages should I add to my personal academic website? What would you say is most important? Which should people prioritize?
Ian: I have a particular opinion about this one. My opinion here is that having a description of your projects, so not necessarily your publications, but the projects that you’re working on. I think I’m pushing on this because sometimes people hesitate to have a website because they don’t have a publication yet. When I was in grad school, I didn’t publish until my 5th year. So they took a long time, but the ideas that I was working on started in my 1st year. I think being able to share those ideas and the stuff that I was working on was good. And it led up to getting published at some point.
But I was able to collaborate with people even before I was published because I was sharing my ideas on a website. I would say you have a website. You introduce yourself and then have descriptions of your project, including those project descriptions. You can add posters that you’ve shared, where you’ve shared those projects, and then eventually if it gets published then you can add publications on those project descriptions. But it’s okay to start out with just the description of the projects or ideas and then share that.
Jennifer: Brittany, what about you? Where should people start when it comes to what to prioritize for my personal academic website?
Brittany: I think actually Ian said it perfectly.
And also, if you have anything that’s outside of your research as well that you’re very passionate about, like some type of cause. A lot of people in the research, or at least in the sciences, there’s like science communication, science policy, advocacy, outreach. Any of those things that you do, especially if you’re particularly passionate about it. If you can feature that in some way like on your website. If you already have photos on hand, or just like to write a story about yourself. To Ian’s point, when you write your description about yourself, kind of root it in the why you’re doing this. The why you’re interested in research, or all the things that you’re doing. That’s I think really important in terms of creating that personal connection with somebody in the online space. Then people again can get to know you beyond just whatever they can read like in your CV, or your LinkedIn, or whatever.
Jennifer: I love that so why you’re doing what you’re doing is so important for helping people to connect with what you care about. And with the work that you’re doing now. When it comes to your personal academic website, making sure that why is in your bio and also in your project descriptions is great. Actually, if you only have one sentence for your bio and one sentence for each project description, it should probably be about why you’re doing it.
Now when it comes to helping people find your research on your website, make sure that you’re actually using the words that people are going to Google. If you have a specific phrase that you know that is related to your research, I can’t even think of one. Let’s see, for my recent client, she’s looking specifically at ‘immigration in the United States.’ So, she needs that specific phrase to be on her website so more people can find her research about that specific topic. Make sure you’re being descriptive in how you’re talking about your research as well. Include the why. And, include the words that people will actually use to search for your research topic. That would be my top suggestions for getting up your website.
Do I need a photo of myself on my website?
Jennifer: Let me ask what about a website photo. Do I need a photo of my face on my website? That is a frequent question I get. What would you say?
Brittany: I personally think that you should have at least one photo, if it’s just like a selfie. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Something that again kind of showcases who you are a little bit. And also, I think for a lot of universities, you do also upload a photo for your department anyway. But I think that also helps with the personal connection and such.
Jennifer: I really liked how Owlstown gave you different options so if you’re first getting just getting started you can have like your letter instead of a profile photo. What do you think, Ian, do you need a profile photo on your website?
Ian: Yeah, so Owlstown gives you that option but most people actually just put up their own photos. I think it is helpful to have your photo on there because eventually if they are interested in your work, in your research, you’re going to meet them eventually. The people who visit your website, you’ll meet them eventually at conferences, in talks that you do. When I was in grad school, people mentioned things that were on my website. That was kind of a way to start conversations. It’s probably good for them to associate my face with the content of the website so that when we do see each other at the university or at conferences, they know to associate it with my face.
Jennifer: I completely agree. I think having a photo of yourself is super helpful. If you really are uncomfortable with it, having some kind of avatar, a little cartoon version of yourself, is a great alternative. You could also use a different kind of graphic that is specifically representative of your research. So, a little icon or something I have seen people use. But overall, I just think a photo of your face can make a really big difference. And if you record a short video for your website? That goes such a long way to helping people really recognize you as a human being, as a person, and for remembering your research. Even if you’re like, “Ah, I can’t write a lot for my website, I don’t have a lot of time now. But, I can hop on zoom and record a 1-minute “Hi My Name Is video,” that could make a really big difference too.
Whats my 1st step when making my website?
Jennifer: When it comes to getting started with your personal academic website, where should people start? Ian, Brittany let me know what you think. Brittany, why don’t you go first. Where should people start, what’s their 1st step like physically, where should they start? Everyone here probably either has a website already or they are looking to actually make their website. Owlstown is a great solution. Now we know how to make it. We know how to use that.
But, what about people who are going to use Google Sites or WordPress.com? Where should they start when it comes to their website? Is it their domain name?
Brittany: Yeah, I would say besides the technical things, I think the most important thing we kind of touched on earlier: making sure you’re very clear about your goals for your website. What are you trying to do? How much time you want to put into it? That way you don’t feel like it’s something that you didn’t finish or whatever. Just say, “Okay, I just want to get my website out because of X, Y, Z reasons. And, for this time period, if it’s just like a one-pager website, that’s fine.” That’s better than nothing.
Being able to clarify your reason for creating your website at this point in time will help you feel less mind drama about whether you finish it or not finish it. Then, of course, choose your website builder. Definitely get a domain name. Get it in your name because a lot of the website builders if you use a free plan you are technically a subdomain under like their website name. But a domain name is quite inexpensive, like on Google Domains. I just like Google Domains because it’s simple. A subdomain is like YourName.WordPress.com, which is okay. But personally I really just wanted MyName.com. I have multiple domain names, just in case of other things in the future. You just go on Google Domains and like to buy one for about $12/year. It’s a pretty nice investment and then, it’s pretty simple. It’s just like buying anything else on the internet: you add it to cart and then there are some technical things that you have to figure out, but you basically just follow directions on their F.A.Q. page or Help Guide or something like that.
Jennifer: Ian, can you set up your own domain name on Owlstown?
Ian: Yeah. You can add your own domain name. Owlstown is free for what you mentioned, the subdomain (YourName.OwlsTown.com). But if you want your own custom domain, you have to get a paid plan. On Brittany’s point about where to start: I think having a one-pager is a good way to start. Sometimes people think that they have to have a complete website with multiple pages to feel like they have a website. With just one page I think you already have a website. If you have information about you, you can think of your website as a central place to direct you, or a central place to put your online content. If you have like an introduction about yourself, your contact info, your email for a way to contact you (because people are going to try to contact you about your work), and then maybe if you have links to where your publications are listed on Google Scholar, Academia.edu, or ResearchGate. If you just have links to those, that’s sufficient. Your academic website can act as a hub for people who are interested in your work to get connected to other things that might give more information about your work.
Should I add my middle initial to my domain name?
Jennifer: Asha asked a question. Perfect timing so we can do all of your questions. Drop them in the chat. You’ll also be able to unmute yourself and talk with us.
Asha’s question is: Should we add our middle initial to our domain name? That’s a great question. Ian, what do you think?
Ian: Yeah, I don’t think that’s a problem. I think it’s one way to kind of differentiate yourself if your name is common. For my name, I have two middle names. I was able to get IanLi.com, but I think if I were to try to get IanLi.com now, I wouldn’t be able to get it. I could probably use my middle initials in my domain name. I think that’s probably going to be one way that people are going to be looking for me also. So, Ian A. R. Li is one way to look for me, so if that’s on my domain name then they can find me.
Jennifer: Okay, Brittany what about you? What do you think about adding your middle initial to your domain name?
Brittany: I would say that I was also lucky, like Ian. I have BrittanyTrinh.com.
But I think again there’s a lot of things that play into it. One, do you want your middle initial in there too? Do people know you by your middle initial? I recently found out that I should include my middle initial when I publish academic papers. I didn’t realize that before. It’s just again to differentiate myself. Then the other thing, is it available? Right? You might also come to find out that you can use your name with your middle initial and the URL is still not available. Which is why I think it’s really important to get your domain name as soon as possible. So if there’s nothing else you do today, look up your domain name.
Jennifer: That’s great. One thing I would add to that is that if you have been publishing for a long time and you haven’t used your middle initial, adding it in now is fine. But, you’ll probably want to switch to publishing with your middle initial from now on. Your website is going to be the hub where all of that comes together. But when it comes to how people search and how people look for things, honestly copy/paste. Type in exactly what they see or what they’re looking to expect. If they type in your name without the middle initial and way too many people come up and it’s hard to find you, that’s when you want to add it in. And if you don’t have a middle name, which is true for so many people.
If you don’t have a middle name, that’s okay. A lot of my clients will add like one word or a short phrase that represents their research to the end of their name. That’s an easy way to differentiate yourself. Some people also add their title, like DrYourName.com or YourNamePhD.com to differentiate themselves. There are options. You don’t have to go with your middle initial just because you think that’s what other people are looking for. If you just want to go with your name without the middle initial, because that’s how you feel, that’s how you’re presenting yourself, that’s how you publish, and how you want to share your work with the world, go ahead. Don’t feel like you need to add it unless it becomes problematic for you in the future. But you know, when you build an online presence, things like that happen less and less because people are already able to find your website when they search for your name.
I’m thinking about leaving academia, can I still have a website?
Jennifer: Alright, next question. Would a website still be okay if transitioning away from academia (but not to industry) for a chemist? Is a website still okay if you might be transitioning away from academia? I would say yes. Definitely. What about you two?
Brittany: I think I just wanted to clarify: by ‘not industry,’ do you mean you’re not working in industry, but you’re doing something else? In general I think having a website is fine. I was just curious because I’ve had my website, I started technically, officially started my website while I was working in industry. So, I guess it also depends on what you mean by…Okay, [responding to a text comment], you will not will not be working in industry. Yeah, I feel like there’s nothing to lose with having a website. Except maybe $20, or however much it costs to host a website depending on what you get. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s like your creative space. You can use it for whatever you want. So if you want to use it as a portfolio of sorts for your projects and to get a career in a different field or something, that’s also a really good place to showcase some of that more in depth as well.
Jennifer: I’ve also created a website for someone who was leaving academia, and they were not going back into the workforce. They weren’t at retirement age, but they just weren’t going back. They were taking an extended time away from working and they still wanted a website because their work was still important to them. They still wanted readers for their book. They really wanted to keep in touch with their past students. They still wanted to be part of the community even though they weren’t going to be actively working or receiving employment from a university. And that made a really big difference in their lives and how connected they felt. So if you are feeling like you want a website, no matter what you’re doing after academia, or if you’re staying in academia but switching what you’re doing–say you’re moving into a leadership position. It’s all okay. And the best part is exactly what Brittany said, which is that your website can adapt with you over time. It can be your creative space and it can also be your professional space to showcase what you want when you want. And you can even get rid of those pages if they no longer align with your needs. Ian, what about you?
Ian: Yeah. I have been out of academia for 10 years now and I still have my website up because people still cite the publications I had from grad school. I make the PDFs available on my website so if people are looking for examples if it’s cited and they’re looking for the paper, they can find it on my website.
Jennifer: I just want to note to check your publication contracts or get permission before doing this.
Ian: Also, my dissertations there if they want to see it. I also have some talks, posters, and so it’s great for people who are finding my name on citations that they have a way of still different content related to that work.
Jennifer: I love that. So it’s definitely been something all of us have experienced both in academia and outside of academia. And, our website has been helpful to each of us personally during that time. We definitely think it’ll be helpful for you as well.
How do I know if I should hire help for my website or do-it-myself (D.I.Y.)?
Jennifer: I have a question for you two, how should people know when they should hire help? Like when they don’t want to D.I.Y. [Do-It-Yourself for] their website.
Brittany: Since I am a website designer and I have done this for a couple of clients, I would say usually it’s like a time issue if you are just very busy. The people who have normally hired me, some are more like mid-career professors hire me too which is really funny I think. Everything else is just higher priority than their website. They have to teach their classes, run their research group, write a textbook. They’re running their own business. Everything else is a higher priority, and they just need to delegate. I think that’s just a personal call you need to make: when can you delegate? When can you do it yourself?
The other important thing is making sure that whoever you choose to work with, if you choose to work with somebody, that they also like to show you how it works and stuff. And that they’ve set it up for you in a way that is easy for you to manage, especially if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands to do that later on. Either that, or if you have the funds available to just have someone manage it, I think that’s the important thing. It’s just like how important and how much time can you put into this?
Jennifer: Ian everyone on Owlstown is doing it themselves, is that right?
Ian: Yeah, that’s correct. With Owlstown, it’s all D.I.Y. in that you’re adding the content yourself. If people are asking for help from me, it’s mostly the features of the website rather than the how the content is being added to the website.
Don’t wait, you can publish a 1-page website and grow over time
Jennifer: Yeah, that’s a great point. I really find that when academics come to me, they’re exactly kind of the same as Brittany. They don’t have the time or energy to make their own website. And they know that whatever amount of time it’s gonna take it’s just more than they can afford. Not just in terms of their personal life and their research, but in terms of their attention and what they want to focus on. It makes a big difference if you can be writing your book or working on your dissertation. Focusing on the things that you need to be doing instead of your personal website.
Now, Owlstown makes it really easy. If you have the content, you can just drop it in and have your website published so fast. I just love that as an option. And if you’re like I want a really extensive website, but I don’t have time for it this year, go to Owlstown because maybe it’s gonna meet all of your needs. But, when it comes to hiring help, it’s okay to hire help if you feel like you want support. If you know that having support is going to make your life easier. And it’s okay to go out and reach out to people and ask questions to see if they’re going to be a good fit to work with you. A lot of professors find working with someone locally, a local website developer, works well for them because they already know what they want on their website. But when it comes to your website don’t let the what-should-I-put-on-it hold you back from publishing a one-page website.
We were talking about that earlier but it is so important that you know you don’t need a perfect website. It doesn’t need to be exactly the way you thought of it in your head to hit publish. Launching it now is great. And it also means you can enter our Best Personal Academic Websites Contest. This is our 2nd year running the contest where we’re giving away multiple awards for the best personal academic websites. We are definitely giving an award in the Owlstown category. So if you do decide to build your website with Owlstown, we hope that you’ll submit! But, we also give an award for one-page personal academic websites. So if you can create your website before September 10, 2023, when the deadline closes, we would love for you to submit to our contest. Okay, if you have questions about personal academic websites be sure to drop them in the chat. Or, raise your hand and you can unmute yourself. Brittany, Ian, is there anything we haven’t talked about that you feel like we should definitely talk about?
Share your website with people once it’s live
Brittany: I guess the other part of having a website is once you make it, you gotta share it with people. Put it on your LinkedIn. I know that on Google Scholar, you can also link a website on there, so that might be helpful. You gotta start putting it on things so people can find it beyond just Google Search. On your social media profiles too. Just throw it on there.
Jennifer: Yeah! That’s great. Also in your email signature and on your faculty profile. Those are pretty easy updates for how to share your website. Also in your bio! If you’re presenting at conferences, adding your website to your bio is going to help all those people attending your talk (and the people who can’t attend your talk) find you and your work.
Updating your personal academic website
Jennifer: Oh, we had another question. How often should we be updating our websites? How often should you update a website?
Ian: Yeah. I think if you have new information that you can add to your website. You can add it then. I wouldn’t say it has to be weekly or monthly. As long as you have new information, you can add it in. I think the important thing is that the information on your website is up to date. I’m of the opinion that the worst websites are the ones that are not updated. So if you go in there, you think that they’ve last published 5 years ago but really, they had something published like a year ago. People are looking for information on your website. You want it to be up-to-date now. Whether you need to update it weekly with new information? I don’t think you have to as long as it’s updated with the information that you want them to know.If I’m gonna rank the importance of how the website looks or how updated the website is, I think the how updated the website is is more important. I’ve had too much experience going to an academic website and finding really old information. It just becomes a problem when you’re looking for research or collaborators and things like that.
Jennifer: I like that. Typically with my clients, I tell them that updating your website can be a nice kind of celebration. Every time you were gonna add a line to your C.V. [Curriculum Vitae] or something, add it to your website too. Because it’s actually going to help people when it’s on your website. People will actually be able to learn about it, whereas with your C.V., not a lot of people are going to be reading it on a regular basis. Your website is going to show up when they are Googling your name, so it does make a difference. But on a minimum, I typically recommend it annually. So, if you are so busy and you’re like I know I’m not going to have time to update my website. Even if you’re like, “Yeah, I have publications, but I don’t have time to add them.” Add it into your calendar now to update your website in a year. That reminder will be really helpful to make sure you actually get that done.
Many of my clients have come to me 6-7 years after making their website, and they haven’t updated it since then. So it’s typical. It’s normal. It happens all the time. But, we don’t want that to happen to you. That’s why we’re suggesting updating it more often.
Can I add book review to my personal website?
Jennifer: Next question is: “Can we add book reviews? Even though I’m in theology, I enjoy productive books.”
Yes, definitely. You can add book reviews. You can add any kind of writing that you want. Book reviews may be a good thing to add to a blog, something where you’re regularly updating it, and you can add links to it, you can help share it. People can even subscribe to [your blog] to get more of your book reviews. You could also just publish it as a page and continually update it and add as you have new ones. So definitely add book reviews.
Jennifer: Next question is: “Do we still add when the page was last updated in the footer, or no?” Typically not unless it is relevant to the information that you’re sharing. For example, I have a blog post about the different social media platforms academics typically consider for themselves. At the very bottom of the page, I write that this has been recently updated on this date and that the information is coming mostly from the specific websites of each of the social media platforms. I want to keep that updated because it’s actually important for my readers to know when I’ve updated that. But if it’s not important for your readers to know when you updated a page, it’s probably information that they don’t need. That’s what I would say.
Alright, we are a little bit over time, but if you have any other questions we would love to answer them. Brittany, Ian is there anything I haven’t covered that we should definitely chat about?
Brittany: Just to add on to what we were talking about with updating websites, I also think another good time to update your website is when you decide that whatever’s on your website is not what you want on there anymore because your goals have changed. Or, your intention for your website has changed. When that time comes, you can change out whatever you need to change out.I think earlier we were saying you want to showcase your projects. But I’m also of the opinion that you want to showcase more. Let’s say you’re a science writer and you have a portfolio of sorts. I would want to update or feature the type of science writing that you want to do in the future, that you currently have that you want to do more of, rather than let’s say a blog post that you wrote years ago or something like that. Because that’s something one of my clients had an issue with. She was like, “What do I do with all these blog posts that I’ve written for external contributions?” And I was just like, “Well, is this the type of writing you want to continue to do?” And she was like, “No.” I said, “Well then, this doesn’t necessarily need to be front and center. Instead, let’s focus on the things that you really want to highlight. That’s something to keep in mind when you’re updating your website.
Jennifer: That’s great! That’s so important. Yes, thinking about what your goals are and if your website is going to meet them before you do the updates. You can save yourself time by thinking about what your goals are. That’s great! Anything else we should cover that I haven’t chatted about?
Adding social media links
Ian: I’d like to add to why we might want to add links to our website from social media. I think that helps with discovery of your website. One thing we noted earlier was that people would look for you in search engines. But people will probably encounter your name from Twitter, or they looked at Google Scholar, or other websites. So if they find your name and they have a link to your website, that’s a good way to introduce them to your other work. For example, in Google Scholar you can add a link to your home page. Twitter is the same way. And, Jennifer mentioned this earlier, putting your website on your email signature. So if they forward and see your email, they’re like: “Oh, there’s a link to a homepage I’d like to find out more.”
Jennifer: I love that. Well, thank you all so much for coming to Setting Up Your Personal Academic Website. I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. I’ve been talking with Brittany Trinh and Dr. Ian Li, creator of Owlstown. We’ve had a lot of fun talking with you about websites and we wish you so much luck making your own website. We hope that when you do, you’ll enter our Best Personal Academic Websites Contest. I do want to share with you this resource at the bottom of the contest page on my website. If you scroll down, there are going to be many articles, interviews, and resources from the 3 of us to help you set up your personal academic website. We do wish you the best of luck with this project! And, hope to see you again at our next event. Bye!
Ian Li is the creator of Owlstown, the website builder for academics. Owlstown websites are easy to make and maintain, so you can focus on your research. With templates for various research artifacts, Owlstown allows you to present your research in various ways to inspire and inform others.
Update: We’ll be back for another contest in 2025! Jennifer, Brittany, and Ian look forward to your entry next year.
Do you have a personal academic website? Enter to win an award
Thank you for entering to win an award in the Best Personal Academic Websites Contest. The deadline for entries was extended through September 30, 2023.
I’m Jennifer van Alstyne of The Academic Designer LLC. My friends Brittany Trinh and Ian Li of Owlstown and I are teaming up again to bring you this professional development contest for
Faculty
Professors
Scientists
Postdocs
Grad students
Independent researchers
This is the 2nd annual Best Personal Academic Websites Contest. We’re excited to be back in 2023 to celebrate your websites. The entry form is quick to fill out.
Have a personal academic website? Yay! You should be proud of your website. They’re not common. We’re excited your website is in the world.
Watch the replay of our virtual event to help you set up your personal academic website
This event was recorded live on Zoom on August 1, 2023 at 6pm Pacific Time, hosted by Jennifer van Alstyne @HigherEdPR, Brittany Trinh @BrttnyTrnh, and Dr. Ian Li of Owlstown @Owlstown
Hosts
Brittany Trinhis a website strategist and designer for STEM leaders. She helps grad students, scientists, and academics create impact-driven websites so they can level up in their careers & get paid for their expertise. She’s currently a chemistry PhD student at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“I hope that this contest will motivate more graduate students to get their websites done ASAP. I’m excited to see more academics share their finished websites on Twitter!”
— Brittany Trinh (@BrttnyTrnh)
Ian Li is the creator of Owlstown, the website builder for academics. Owlstown websites are easy to make and maintain, so you can focus on your research. With templates for various research artifacts, Owlstown allows you to present your research in various ways to inspire and inform others.
“I am excited that the contest will encourage people to share their research by creating an academic website. I hope that the experience of creating an academic website will help people to think about how to present their research. I also hope that people may gain inspiration from each other’s websites.”
— Ian Li (@Owlstown)
Jennifer van Alstyne helps professors feel confident when showing up online. The Academic Designer LLC is a minority woman-owned business helping academics share their research, teaching, and leadership on websites and social media since 2018. The Social Academic blog, podcast, and YouTube channel helps professors manage their online presence to build a strong digital footprint.
“This contest inspired so many people last year to make their own websites. I’m delighted we get to bring it back again this year. It’s never too early or too late to make your personal academic website.”
— Jennifer van Alstyne (@HigherEdPR)
Subscribe so you don’t miss the winners announcement!
Winners will be announced at the end of November here on The Social Academic blog.
7 free resources for creating your own personal academic website
Our goal is to help as many people as possible. Here are free resources from Ian Li of Owlstown, Brittany Trinh Creative, and The Academic Designer LLC to help you make your website. Please share with your friends.
For all of us in academia that are now working on properly developing AI Literacy within ourselves so as to then be able to develop AI Literacy within our students, we must ask ourselves how have we directly developed students to properly use AI in an ethical matter without violating academic integrity. We must ensure that we are taking all the necessary steps to set students up for success in multiple ways: Freshman orientation, school assemblies, posters, class discussions/activities, etc. all to help students understands that there are different ways of using AI and that its use is appropriate at times and not appropriate at other times.
The associated Infographic has been designed to directly help students in understanding how to use AI in a proper manner and specifically in a way that will not violate academic integrity. For a full and detailed explanation of this infographic, please check out the associated video:
AI Literacy is a necessity now. Students are already using AI. We in academia must ensure that they know not only how to use AI, but to use it effectively and ethically. Please use this infographic, please share this infographic with as many students and academics as possible so that we can help as many students as possible.
What are your thoughts? What would you add to help students even more?
For professors and scientists, a personal website is a big project that’s well worth your time. It’s the best way to manage your online presence long-term. Your personal academic website can include a portfolio of pages that showcase your
teaching
research
publications
speaking engagements
service
I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. Welcome to my my blog, The Social Academic. Now also a podcast and YouTube channel. This article was updated for 2024.
A personal website can be life changing professors, grad students, and researchers like you. In this guide, discover the 7 steps to an academic website:
You can make your own personal academic website. You’ve got this. When you do, your website will help people explore your research, teaching, and the things you care about. I’m excited for you! And this guide is here to help.
P.S. Bookmark this page so you can come back to it.
7 steps to take your website from start to launch
Creating a personal academic website is a long-journey. It’s not a 10-minute project like some articles claim. A website is typically a multi-day project. It may take you months. And that’s ok.
Some professors reach out to me for an academic website that
brings it all together for professors who “wear many hats” or feel like it may not be possible to “bring my identities together”
highlights their new book while helping past publications better reach new readers
invites aligned partnerships or relationships (i.e. with researchers around the world, community organizations, corporate partners, funders, and the people your research helps most)
creates a legacy for their work for a retired professor
celebrates their new position and prepares for their future for professors who transition to a new role
shares their research so people can engage in meaningful ways
helps them have a stronger online presence that supports a new goal or achievement
redesigns the website they made themselves years ago that “doesn’t feel like me anymore”
When you’re intentional about creating space for your online presence, you can help more people. For many of the professors I work with, a stronger online presence helps them move from the spark of “I can have a website” to “I deserve this space.” We deserve this space.
As academics, I want you to know that “we can create this space for ourselves.” You don’t need to work with me to have a stronger online presence. A PhD student scheduled a time to meet with me about designing her website for her. She didn’t need to wait to meet with me, “Have you heard about Owlstown? It’s a free academic website builder from my friend, Dr. Ian Li.” I wanted her to know she didn’t need my support. There was an easy solution for her personal academic website. That Owlstown is a solution I trust for most professors.
I have resources to help you on my website on The Social Academic blog, podcast, and YouTube channel. You don’t need to work with me to make your personal academic website. Here are my website resources for you. I hope this guide in particular helps you move forward efficiently to make your personal academic website a reality. Following it will help you get your academic personal website from start to launch smoothly.
The best way to start making your personal academic website is by planning the structure of your website. If you don’t have an idea about what you want to share, you’ll get stuck.
Let’s decide what to include on your professor website.
Planning your website
The structure and organization of your academic personal website determines the written, visual, and video content you’ll want to create. If you plan on sharing a lot of information, you can have more pages on your website.
Your personal academic website might include things like
About page with your academic bio and headshot
Research page
Current project
Research outcomes
Teaching page
Course descriptions
Syllabi
Teaching Statement/Philosophy
Publications page
Abstracts or descriptions
Publication links
Speaking Engagements page
Contact page
Links to your social media profiles
Blog
If you want a simpler website, a smaller structure is recommended:
About page with your academic bio and headshot
Link to your CV
Links to your social media profiles
The simplest website structure is just 1-page. But it isn’t right for everyone. This tends to work well for graduate student websites. And professors who want the easiest website to maintain.
The more you want to share, the more pages your site will need.
If you’re unsure about what to include on your personal website, let’s talk. I help professors think through who they help and the real people who will visit their personal or lab websites with my Website Strategy service. I’m here to help you too if you want support.
Gather written content for your website
Once you’ve decided on a structure and what you want to include, write down all the written content you want to share on your website. If it’s text and you want it on your website, write it down.
Make a list of the pages you need to write content for. A sample for a simple 3-page personal website might include
About Page
Academic bio: 150-350 words
Research interests
Research Page
List of current project(s)
Longer description of current research topics
Important outcomes or other research highlights
Publications Page
Publication details (not in standard citation format), preferably with an abstract or description
Write the content for each page in a document to complete this step. You might decide to hire help from a website designer or developer. It’s helpful to have a document with your written content ready to share with them.
If you can get support with this project, I encourage it! If you know what you want on your website, I’ve got an amazing website development partner who can handle the technical side of launching your website. We can also work together 1-on-1 on your website strategy. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you want professional support on your website project.
Edit your content for the web
Most professors don’t write for the web automatically. Academics like you may use
complicated or dense sentences
jargon / specialized terms
long paragraphs
no headings (or few headings)
Each of these can be found in academic writing, but you should avoid them when writing for your professor website.
I’m going to share with you best practices for writing for your personal website. Take the document you’ve drafted and each time, read through to edit with these changes
Can you simplify this sentence? For instance, if I make this sentence into 2 sentences, will it be easier for people to understand?
Is this word jargon? Is it a specialized term people in my field know but other people may not? Is it a term people in my specialization know, but other people may not? That word or term needs a short definition.
How many sentences is this paragraph? Can I break it into shorter paragraphs to make it easier to read on a mobile phone?
What heading will help someone find what they’re looking for on this particular page? For instance, if I have longer description of my research, what headings can I add to make this easier for someone skimming this page?
Photography and headshots
What images do you want to include on your website? At a minimum I recommend these
cover photo (also called a splash image, header photo, etc.)
a photo of you
If you like taking photos, you may have one already that photos that work for your website.
Many people choose stock images for their cover photo. On my personal website, I have photos I took at the San Francisco Botanic Gardens.
For your headshot, you don’t need to go out and do a professional photo shoot. If you have photos from your work then that’s an option. Selfies are a good option for your headshot too. You just want your photo to be friendly, like of your smiling face. Here are 3 ways to get new photos for your personal website.
Are photos required? No, but it really does help. If you’re uncomfortable with photos, consider making an avatar instead. Whichever photos choose, you need to have the rights or license to share those photos online.
Do you want your academic or scientist website to be super engaging? Try adding a video too!
If you got to the end of this step and you’re like, can you please just do the set-up for me? Yes. Let’s talk about working together on set up of your academic website.
2. Pick a domain name and site title
Once you’ve gathered/written all your content, you want to pick a domain name. Do this before choosing a host because it’s literally going to be the 1st thing most of them ask you to do when you sign-up.
Your domain name is your main website URL, or web address. For instance, the full URL to this page is https://theacademicdesigner.com/2020/how-to-make-an-academic-website
So the domain name for the website is theacademicdesigner.com.
Your site title is what your website is called, in my case, The Academic Designer, which is the name of my company.
For a personal website, my top recommendation for choosing your website domain and title is to use your full name. My personal website is jennifervanalstyne.com (site name: Jennifer van Alstyne).
Using your full name will help your page rank in Google and other search engines. Afterall, the keyword most people will use to find your website when searching, is your name.
An easy way to check if your domain name is in use is by typing it into your internet navigation search bar. If it’s taken a website will show up, and you may need to add a middle initial or keyword (e.g. JenniferSVanAlstyne.com or JenniferVanAlstynePoet.com).
3. Choose a website host
Which website host is best for you will depend on your time, budget and technical skills.
It’s time to set up your website. This is an exciting day, because when you have the content written already, your website can come together quickly.
Start by choosing a theme for your website
Most website hosts have themes or looks to choose from for the design of your website. When choosing a theme for your website look for these 3 things. You want a website that is
mobile responsive, which means your website adapts from desktop to mobile screens well
a clean design with a top menu and social media menu
accessibility-ready, which means the theme has built-in features to help people with disabilities explore your website (Accessibility-ready may be an option depending on your website host)
Once you’ve chosen a theme for your website, you can usually choose things like font and color. For font, choose a sans serif font for your body font. A sans serif font means that you want letters without the little feet. So, no Times New Roman for your body font. You can use a serif font (with the little feet) for your headings font though.
In terms of colors on your website, you want something with a high contrast for easy readability. Dark text on a light background is preferred for accessibility.
Place your content
Once you’ve selected a theme, you’re ready to place your content. Depending on how big your website is, you’ll want to know how to do these things
add a page
place text
insert a URL link
upload a photo
make a header
You may also need to know how to add and edit these site-level items
a menu
social media links
a contact form (Update for 2024: I no longer recommend using contact forms, as they don’t always work across devices/countries)
Titles, tags, and other metadata
When you upload photos and other media to your website, you need to add in information like the title of the photo. There are also other options to add information about your media like Alt Text, a written description of your photo. Providing Alt Text for your photos helps more people understand the photo you’re sharing. Especially people who use screen readers to interact with your website. Alt Text also helps Google’s website crawlers better understand your website, so that it shows up in relevant search results.
When you upload photos or other media to your website, it’s important to check that the metadata and Alt Text are descriptive.
Write descriptive Alt Text for all of the images on your website.
For my splash image of succulents the metadata includes
title of the photo (Succulents)
name of the photo (succulents.jpg)
description of the photo (‘Website header photo of many green echeveria succulents’)
After you’ve placed the writing and photos on your website, preview your website. Check your website for
spelling
formatting
readability
Preview your website on different screen types if you have the option
Try your website on different browsers
Chrome
Firefox
Microsoft Edge
Safari
Ask your friends and family to read over your personal website for you. We often miss our own simple errors. You may learn if something is confusing. For instance, if your family notices a bit of jargon, a term they don’t understand about your research, how would you explain it to them in a phrase or sentence?
You may also learn that something is hard to find. You’d be surprised how many personal websites I’ve come across where it’s difficult to find the name of the person who it’s about. Seriously. I even wrote an article about it for The Social Academic.
6. Is it time to take your website live?
If you sell anything on your website including consulting or editing services, you may be required by law to have a Privacy Policy and a Terms and Conditions page. Look to your country’s regulations about this. You will also need a Privacy Policy and Terms page if you are using Google Analytics or other tracking pixels or tools on your website. Do not take your website live until you have those things.
If that is not the case for you, or if you’ve added those policies…
It’s time to take your website live!
Go ahead and Publish your website.
Congratulations! You have a personal academic website ready to be shared with the world.
7. Share your website
Once your website is live, you need to share it with people.
In the next few weeks, Google will crawl your website (unless you tell it not to, but don’t do that). Then your website will start showing up when people Google your name. But Google and search engines shouldn’t be the only way people find your website.
Announce your website on social media. Invite people to check it out.
Update your social media profiles to include your website address.
Add your new website address to your email signature.
Share your website as a way for people to keep in touch with you after a talk or presentation.
Update your bio to include your website.
And, please share your website with me! Send me a direct message on social media, I’d love to congratulate you on your website personally.
Good luck with your website project!
Well that’s the whole process, step-by-step. Good luck setting up your personal website. Be sure to bookmark this page so you can come back and check the steps.
Please share this guide to making your personal academic website with your friends and colleagues. Ask your university library or faculty development office to share it as a resource. This guide has helped professors and grad students around the world make their website a reality.
I hope it helps you too. You’ve got this! Make 2024 your year to launch your personal academic website. You’ll be happy you did.
Feel like you don’t want to do this alone? Get support for your personal academic website
Professors, would you like 1-on-1 support on your personal academic website or their research lab website? Let’s work together on a done-for-you website customized to meet your long-term needs. My most loved website service typically takes 4+ months.
Websites with me are capacity building. When we do it together, you get to “a website ready to take live” with ease. And, you’ll feel confident to make simple changes so you can keep your website updated.
We’re excited to recognize the hard work these people have put into their personal academic websites. They are examples to learn from. Explore the winners of the 2022 Best Personal Academic Websites Contest, and discover what prompted each of them to take the leap.
Update: It’s official. We’ll be back for another contest in early 2025! Jennifer, Brittany, and Ian look forward to your entry next year. View the 2023 award winning websites.
The Best Personal Academic Websites Contest is brought to you by Jennifer van Alstyne, Brittany Trinh, and Ian Li.
About the contest
The Best Personal Academic Websites Contest was open from October 10 through November 2, 2022. Entries were free. The contest recognizes the best personal websites of
Faculty
Professors
Scientists
Postdocs
Grad students
Independent researchers
Our goal was to award your hard work. And create a resource that can be shared to inspire academics like you to make their own website. These are great examples of personal websites, with notes from the judges.
Overall Best Personal Academic Website (tied, top 3)
Best Owlstown (tied, top 2)
Best Google Site
Best Storytelling
Best Portfolio
Best Blog
Best Academic Entrepreneur
Overall Best Personal Academic Website Award
The top 3 websites tied in score. We are celebrating overall top 3 websites from Meredith Schmehl, Dr. Emmanuel Balogun, and Dr. Raymond C. Rumpf. Congratulations!
Your websites excelled in every judged category (Website Content, Website Design and Organization, About You, Portfolio, Contact Info). You are the best examples of personal academic websites.
Meredith Schmehl
Meredith Schmehl is the sole creator of her website. She says, “I made a website to showcase my work both in the lab and in my community. My website allows me to connect all of my professional interests in a single platform to share my accomplishments and values with a wide audience.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: Schmehl’s website is effective with the homepage along, as well as the entire website as a whole website. Not only does her portfolio list their work, she also provides a clear description of what it is, and other awards/recognition related to that work.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Friendly, personable, and communicative. Meredith took time to share the details of her talks and writing in an accessible way. I love that you get a short abstract with the article. You can also learn about The Gastronauts Podcast and Meredith’s work with the National Science Policy Network on her website.
Dr. Ian Li: Meredith’s website is a great example of a comprehensive academic website. She presents the breadth of her work from her research, science writing, and advocacy. In each project, she provides a clear summary and points to resources to get more details about them.
Dr. Emmanuel Balogun
Dr. Emmanuel Balogun wants to acknowledge the help of Jennifer van Alstyne of The Academic Designer LLC who developed the strategic website plan. And, Ryann Russ of Iggy + Stella Creative Studio who designed the website.
Dr. Balogun says, “I made a website to communicate my research and expertise to an audience beyond academia and to make it easier for my colleagues, students, and professional contacts to reach me. I also wanted to increase my online presence in a more approachable way.”
Notes from the Judges
Jennifer did not judge Dr. Balogun’s website for this contest.
Brittany Trinh: My favorite part about Dr. Balogun’s website is the Teaching page, which includes descriptions of courses taught, along with sample syllabi and assignments. There are also pages to important links for students, such as letter of recommendation (LOR) worksheet, internship list, and scheduling office hours. The LOR worksheet breaks down what the student should provide for the professor, making it easier for the students to advocate for themselves and easier for Dr. Balogun to organize and write the LORs.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Balogun’s website is a great example of how an academic website can help share a wide array of information from one’s academic work and beyond. Dr. Balogun shares various artifacts from his research publications, classes, media appearances, and presentations. He also shares resources that students can use for internships and research opportunities.
Dr. Raymond C. Rumpf
Dr. Raymond C. Rumpf wants to acknowledge that “the primary person responsible for the conceptualization, creation, organization, graphic design, photography, and administration of my website is Kristin S. Rumpf of KSR Digital Designs. She came up with the web design, the logo, and did the custom coding to create the website I wanted. She has constructed websites for my two other businesses as well.”
Dr. Rumpf says, “I decided to create a website to consolidate all the information about my work and research into one place that I had complete control over. I wanted to be able to highlight my research, provide links to my learning resources, and promote my books, online courses, and journal articles that were outside what would be allowed by my university.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: Dr. Rumpf’s website is both informative and visually compelling. It does a great job of fulfilling 3 goals – making academic resources freely accessible, providing information about his research lab, and promoting his online courses, EMPossible. I also love the logo design, which cleverly incorporates the letters EM, as in “electromagnetic,” into his personal brand as well.
Jennifer van Alstyne: This felt like a well-thought out comprehensive archive. With great visuals and detailed research descriptions, Dr. Rumpf makes it easy to explore his website. A great use of a blog as a News section.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Rumpf’s website is a treasure trove of information. It has information about his research, lab, and courses. The website is well-designed to easily navigate the huge amount of information on the site.
Best Owlstown Website Award
Owlstown is a website builder for academics created by Dr. Ian Li. Make and maintain your academic website in minutes. We are excited to award the Owlstown websites with the highest scores, Dr. Taotao Wu and Rashid Ahmed Rifat. Congratulations!
Dr. Taotao Wu
Dr. Taotao Wu wants to appreciate “Ian from Owlstown for creating such a convenient platform for the community.”
Dr. Wu says, “I have always been thinking about building my academic website to communicate science, not just because I am on the job market but also because information should be free. As a trainee for years, I received a lot of help from online open source. I am trying to do small part here.”
Notes from the Judges
Ian did not judge Dr. Wu’s website for this contest.
Brittany Trinh: I like how Dr. Wu leverages his About section to clearly state his intention (finding a tenure-track position). In addition, he provides his research vision, which may appeal to potential employers and future colleagues.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Dr. Wu takes the extra step of adding abstracts to each of his publications. He makes his research on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) approachable with the headline: “Understanding the networked brain through its injury” on his Research page. I like how Dr. Wu creates pages for his presentations which you can contact him about.
Rashid Ahmed Rifat
Notes from the Judges
Ian did not judge Rashid’s website for this contest.
Brittany Trinh: Rifat’s project pages are well utilized. Not only does he provides an abstract of the project, but also includes relevant documents, figures, and slides to show his technical communication abilities.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Rashid’s bio is approachable. It shares his hopes for his research, and how he wants to make change in the future. With abstracts for his publications, Rashid’s website is an approachable resource. A great example of how you can create a portfolio of research projects on your website.
Best Google Site Award
We’re excited to present the Best Google Site award to Nikita Ghodke. Congratulations!
Nikita Ghodke
Nikita Ghodke made her website “on my own from scratch.” She says, “Making an academic website is important, especially as an International disabled student. My biggest motivation for creating one was for reaching out with resources to the underrepresented populations. I always wanted to create more representations in academia that can tailor a story of me as a person which isn’t just limited to my professional interests but also includes other parts of my life that play an important role in my career.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: Ghodke’s website shows that it’s not about the tools or platform you use, but the thought that you put in it. Her website is on Google Sites, which is a free platform.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Nikita tells the story of her research with engaging visuals and photos. I especially like her Science Communication & Outreach page. Nikita shares her photography on her website; I encourage more academics to share their personal interests on their website.
Dr. Ian Li: Nikita shares a lot of information about her journey through academia through blog posts, slide presentations, podcast interviews. She also shares resources to help others with their academic careers.
Best Storytelling Award
Telling your story is powerful and memorable. We’re excited to award the Best Storytelling Award to Dr. Kerri Rodriguez! Congratulations.
Dr. Kerri Rodriguez
Dr. Kerri Rodriguez made her own website on WordPress. She says, “I originally created an academic website because I thought I had to, but my website quickly transformed into a valuable resource for me to share my research in a fun and engaging way. It also has tremendously helped with networking and being on the job market!”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: I particularly liked Dr. Rodriguez’s research page, which provides clear and brief descriptions of the focus of her research, related links to work she wanted to highlight, as well as many cute photos of dogs, which is relevant to her research, throughout her website. In addition, the media page makes it easy to find the articles where she has been featured.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Dr. Rodriguez is so friendly in the GIF on her website. A cute dog? People will find this very approachable. The homepage is detailed without being overwhelming, and helps visitors navigate the site. I love how the Research page also invites people to reach out for collaborations and read her articles.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Rodriguez’s website weaves a cohesive story about her passion for human-animal interaction, which spans across her research, teaching, and advocacy. Her website is a great example of how an academic website can go above-and-beyond a list of publications.
Best Portfolio Award
How do you showcase all the work you do on a personal website? By creating engaging pages for people to explore. We’re excited to award the Best Portfolio Award to Dr. Walter Greason. Congratulations!
Dr. Walter Greason
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: Dr. Greason’s website shares his portfolio by featuring them all on a Project page. He provides a great example of how to leverage your project portfolio because he highlights specific projects by giving them individual pages. In each project, he provides historical significance to give further context of the impact of their work.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Dr. Greason had a challenge fitting his many areas of research onto one website. Well done! A bio that helps people explore further. A page focused on program services. The portfolio pages on this website are visually engaging and not overwhelming. This website is an example for all in how to invite people to get involved.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Greason’s project page is a great example of providing summaries of projects to introduce them to a wider audience. He describes each project and explains why they are important and their impact.
Best Blog Award
Having a blog on your website is a big project. We’re excited to award Dr. Colleen Fisher the Best Blog Award for The Global Minded Professor.
Dr. Colleen Fisher
Dr. Colleen Fisher wants to acknowledge “the wonderful website designer who helped me bring my vision for this site to life! Her name is KC Pushpa.”
Dr. Fisher says, “I had been thinking about the benefits of an academic website for some time, thanks in part to compelling blogs like The Academic Designer! I finally took the leap to create my site in 2021 when I was preparing for my Fulbright to India and realized I wanted a space to blog about that experience.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany Trinh: Global Minded Professor’s website includes 3 blogs – one that is current and two that are upcoming. It provides a clear description of what to expect in the blog. In their India blog posts, they include their own perspective and amazing photos. The blog posts are organized well with section headings and written clearly and concisely. Their blog post have been updated recently and they engage with their readers in the comments sections.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Dr. Fisher’s website shares her love of global research and teaching. Rich with images from her travels, The Global Minded Professor website includes a photo blog from her Fulbright in India. Her Research page answers questions like “What’s the problem?” and “What did we want to find out?” which invite deeper exploration in Dr. Fisher’s research.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Fisher has an extensive blog on her academic work in India. In her blog posts, she writes about her research and the different places that she visited. She also has 2 upcoming blogs for her trips to Ecuador and Kenya.
Best Academic Entrepreneur Website Award
Some of the amazing people who leave academia become entrepreneurs. We’re excited to give the Best Academic Entrepreneur Award to Dr. Jessye L.B. Talley. Congratulations!
Dr. Jessye L.B. Talley
Dr. Jessye L.B. Talley wants to acknoweldge website designer Brittany Trinh Creative and photographer Stacey Gardin.
Dr. Talley says, “I created my website to have a way for me to have my own space to connect with the academic community and not be tied to social media. It was also a way for me to share about my experiences and resources to help other academics on their journey.”
Notes from the Judges
Brittany did not judge Dr. Talley’s website for this contest.
Dr. Ian Li: Dr. Talley’s website is well-designed with a modern layout and great use of visuals. In addition to descriptions of her research, she describes her coaching and workshop services, so you understand how they can help with your goals. She also shares several resources on her blog.
Jennifer van Alstyne: Bright! Memorable. Dr. Talley’s website is inviting for early career faculty who benefit from her services. With professional photography, streamlined copy, and an easy-to-navigate menu, this website is a great example.
Thank you!
Congratulations to our award winners.
A big thank you to all our contest entrants. We’re so lucky to have you inspiring the world. Your website has been added to The Academic Gallery on Owlstown. Thank you for being an amazing example. A website is a big project. You should be proud of sharing who you are and what you do with the world.
We created this contest to help as many people as possible. I hope these personal website examples encourage you to make your own website! Some of our award winners did-it-themselves, others hired help. They all made their personal website work for them. You can too. Please bookmark this page. Share it with your friends. Make your website a reality. And don’t feel like it needs to be “finished” to hit publish. Keep scrolling for free resources to create your website.
Brittany, Ian, and Jennifer would like to thank our non-profit partner for the Best Personal Academic Websites Contest 2022.
STEM Advocacy Institute (SAi) is a Boston based incubator that is making it easier for social entrepreneurs to launch new programs and tools that connect people to science via public science engagement, science communication, and informal science learning.
Finally, we’d like to thank our friends for helping share this event. Including but not limited to
Did you help us share the contest during the entry period? Please email Jennifer@TheAcademicDesigner.com. We’d love thank you here!
7 free resources for creating your own personal academic website
Our goal is to help as many people as possible. Here are free resources from Ian Li of Owlstown, Brittany Trinh Creative, and The Academic Designer LLC to help you make your website. Please share with your friends.
Accountability and time management are valuable skills in graduate school
Toyin Alli, PhD of the University of Georgia helps students inside and out of the classroom. She loves teaching math, it’s her dream job. She’s also making greater impact with her business, The Academic Society LLC, which helps students succeed in grad school.
In this featured interview, Toyin talks about her book, #GradBoss: A Grad School Survival Guide. Inspired by graduate students in her Facebook community, Toyin wrote this handbook in 6 weeks during coworking sessions! The book is packed full of advice and stories about grad school.
We also talk about YouTube, and Toyin’s love for teaching.
Jennifer: Hi everyone. This is Jennifer van Alstyne. Welcome to The Social Academic.
Today, I’m talking with Dr. Toyin Alli, a senior lecturer at the University of Georgia. Toyin, I’m so excited to have you on The Social Academic, and to feature you. Would you mind introducing yourself?
Toyin: So I am Toyin Alli. I’m so excited to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
I am a senior lecturer at the University of Georgia. I’m a teaching faculty member, so I do a lot of teaching, meet with a lot of students.
My go-to is those introductory level math classes where I can show students who believe that they’re not good at math, that they can be great at math.
Jennifer: That would be me [raises hand laughing].
Toyin: And they can enjoy it. That’s my personal challenge I have every semester.
On top of being a senior lecturer, I also run my own business called The Academic Society, where I help graduate students with time management and productivity. I also have a consultancy where I help other academics with their businesses. And setting up systems so that they can have a semester approved business that runs while they’re super busy in the semester.
Jennifer: Oh, my gosh, that is so much stuff. It’s amazing that you’re making it all work. You’re a teacher. You’re helping graduate students actually navigate their time in grad school. And you’re helping other academics who are wanting to start businesses like yours.
You must be good at time management, otherwise you wouldn’t have time for it all. I think it’s great that you’re helping other people with that too.
Jennifer: I love how open you are in your bio on your website about how grad school kicked your butt. And how time management and productivity made such a difference for you. I’d love for you to talk more about that and maybe your book, #GradBoss.
Toyin: Graduate school is definitely an interesting experience and journey. A lot of people have negative thoughts associated with grad school.
Once I really got the hang of grad school, it actually became great. I ended up having a great experience in grad school, which a lot of people do not.
What I found was, it’s really like that underlying soft skill that makes grad school so different. It’s the time management and productivity skills that we aren’t taught grad school, but we’re expected to just do. Those time management and productivity skills, they’re underlying everything. Those are the things that help you actually have time to do your research while you’re
Teaching classes
Taking classes
Going to seminars
Presenting
All that stuff
What I found from graduate students–and even myself when I was a graduate student– it’s very overwhelming. And there’s a lot to do. It’s hard to figure out what to do first. When you’re struggling to figure out what to do first, it kind of just paralyzes you. You kind of do nothing, and that’s where the procrastination happens. That’s where the burnout happens. I really like to jump in and help students figure out what to do first, and how to manage all of that.
When I started graduate school, I thought I was pretty prepared [laughs], because I did undergraduate research. My mom has a PhD. She told me about grad school. But something about experiencing it was just completely different. I had to learn that my undergraduate study habits were just not going to suffice in grad school.
I learned that other students were actually spending time before class doing readings [laughs], and that’s not something I ever had to do in undergrad. It was learning how to make time for those things that I’m not used to putting in my schedule, figuring out what my priorities should be as a grad student. Once I figured that out, and once I figured out how to learn math–which is funny–that’s when I really got a handle on grad school.
In my 1st semester of grad school, I took a class called Topology. It was something that I had never even heard of in undergraduate school. That class was just so foreign to me. I didn’t do the best. I’m sure I would have passed the class, but my professor ended up giving me an Incomplete [grade].
Next semester, in the Spring, I had to meet with him every single week and prove theorems on the board from that class. Every single week. There were tears involved. But in that process, I learned, “Oh, this is how you learned math.” From then on, I knew exactly how much time I needed to spend in my classes. I knew what I needed to do to actually understand what was going on, how much time I needed to allot for my homework.
Once I figured that out, I feel like everything was just unlocked for me. While grad school was still a lot of work, I enjoyed the experience.
Jennifer: I think that it’s really interesting because I see a lot of people on social media especially, talking about how they wish they had parents who went to grad school and who’d experienced some of that. Or, maybe who were academics themselves, to be able to highlight some of that hidden curriculum once you get to grad school. It’s the things that most people just don’t know about grad school.
What I’m hearing from you is that even though your mom had a PhD, there were still a lot of things that you had to learn. That you had to teach yourself and you had to figure out how to do. And it sounds like that one-on-one attention from the professor who gave you that Incomplete provided you some of those resources to be able to replicate that in other areas of your grad school life. It’s a really interesting story. So thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Is that something you talk about in your book, #GradBoss?
Toyin: Oh, yeah. So I have a book called #GradBoss: A Grad School Survival Guide where I share my experiences in grad school: the things I learned, the failures that I went through in grad school. As well as the 10 things that you should know before going to grad school (and even after you started grad school).
Things to remind yourself about:
Time management
How to make friends
Imposter syndrome
Failure in grad school
I talk about all of that in the book. And I also share my stories as well as other grad student stories.
Jennifer: Oh, that’s great. I think that book would be so helpful for people. I wish that I had it when I was in grad school, because I felt like a lot of the areas you just talked about were things that I struggled with. Or, maybe I had more anxiety about that than I thought my friends did. Having a guide or some kind of handbook would have been so helpful for me. If you’re a grad student reading this, please get #GradBoss.
Now, when did you write that book? What inspired you to actually put words on paper?
Toyin: I have a YouTube channel called The Academic Society with Toyin Alli, and I have been sharing videos about time management and grad school stories, things like that.
I also had a community on Facebook for graduate students under the same name, where I help graduate students. Something I learned about grad students is they’re reading all the time.
Jennifer: Mmhmm [affirmative]. [Laughs.]
Toyin: I’m a mathematician. And I will say the reading was very minimal. It was mostly practicing problems, working things out. When I got to the research portion, then I would read papers. But math papers are so short, like 6-7 pages. They’re very short. Yeah, [laughs].
Jennifer: That’s short! Yeah.
Toyin: When talking to all these grad students, they’re telling me how much they’re reading. And I’m creating video content. I was like, “I should probably try to meet them where they are.” They’re already reading. Maybe I could put my knowledge into a book.
So I posted in my Facebook group, “Hey, I’m thinking about writing a book about surviving grad school. Does that sound like a good idea? Would you read it? And what would you want me to talk about?”
And they’re all like, “Oh my goodness. Yes, I would love a book. Here are the things I want you to talk about.” They listed about 10 things, and those became the 10 chapters in my book.
Jennifer: So that was really inspired by the people who you were already working with, who were already in your community, and who already needed your help. And they actually helped outline the topics and ideas that you wrote in the book.
I love that! I love that it was inspired by social media. That’s so cool.
Toyin: I know!
I realize I didn’t answer your question. When did I write it? I believe it was the summer of 2018. Or maybe it was the summer of 2019.
But something that I talk a lot about for grad students in grad school is you don’t want to do this alone. You don’t want to be isolated. And it really helps to have accountability. I’ve noticed that the difference between making a plan and actually following through is the accountability.
Jennifer: Mmhmm [affirmative].
Toyin: Whenever I set to do a task, I’m going to try to build in the accountability.
I’d never written a book before. I’m not a writer. I don’t call my myself a writer even though I guess I am because I wrote a book.
Jennifer: Yeah, you’re a writer!
Toyin: But I was like, the only way I’m gonna do this is if I have people along for the journey. I had this program that’s now called Focus, but at the time it was called Productivity Accelerator. I was like, “Anybody doing some writing over the summer? Anybody working on their thesis, dissertation writing, publishing papers? Do you wanna write with me?”
I actually got grad students involved. We would sit on Zoom for hours each day. We would talk about our goals. We would use the Pomodoro technique and write for about 45 minutes, chat, write for another 45 minutes.
I wrote the whole book in about 6 weeks in the summer, mostly with other graduate students.
Jennifer: Wow! In those coworking writing sessions. That is awesome. And Pomodoros that was something that works for you. And they worked for everyone else because everyone can follow this same kind of timeline doing these smaller, shorter tasks.
Wow, that’s so cool. And you got it done in only 6 months, that’s amazing!
Toyin: Six weeks!
Jennifer: What? Six weeks, is that what you said? [Laughs], I lengthened that. That’s incredible. So six weeks brought you #GradBoss, and that was inspired by graduate students who were in your community. And written with graduate students in that same kind of virtual space and while you’re talking about your goals and everything in six weeks. That is such a cool story. I’m glad I asked about that.
Jennifer: You talked a little bit about how social media is something you use for your community, but what does your online presence look like? Like what social media platforms are you on? Do you have a website? What is your online presence?
Toyin: Yes, I do have a website. I started with the website, as a home base for my brand. That’s where I would put my blog posts back when I was writing regular blog posts. I would create freebies or lead magnets–I would create some type of value for my audience in exchange for their email address. I would say my website and my email newsletter, those were what I built up first.
Then I remembered a dream that I had back when I started grad school. I started grad school in 2016. I loved YouTube. YouTube was everything for me. I watched all kinds of videos, learned about
How to do my hair
My makeup
What to wear
All of the things
When I first started grad school, I was like, “I really wanna be a YouTuber.” But I had this YouTube channel called YouTube University, where it would just be me trying to follow YouTube tutorials and do things. But then my mom shared my videos to everyone she knew, and I got so embarrassed. I was like, “No, I’m not doing this again.”
Jennifer: That’s so funny. She probably shared them cuz she was really proud of you. You were like, “No mom, what are you doing?” [Laughs].
Toyin: What’s funny is I have a YouTube channel now. I think the difference is my YouTube channel now is something that I believe in. I would push past being embarrassed because I know that what I’m telling people would actually be helpful for them. Being able to help someone overcomes that feeling of wanting to shrink and hide. I’m a very introverted and shy person, [laughs]. You wouldn’t guess that I have a YouTube channel.
After I started my website and newsletter, I was like let me do this YouTube thing. About 6 months later in 2017, I started my YouTube channel. I would post a YouTube video every single week. That is where I’m the most consistent.
Then, I occasionally post on Instagram.
Jennifer: I love that. It sounds like all of the places that you’ve brought yourself into that online space have been reactionary in the sense that you wanted a place to host your brand, to hold your blog posts. Then you wanted a YouTube channel because you wanted to explore that. Then you created a YouTube channel that was for a specific audience.
It seems very much like an organic process of finding new places that you wanted to spend time and create content for. And very audience driven as well, like you wanted to create things for specific people, is that right?
Toyin: Oh yeah. Definitely very audience driven.
At first as a mathematician, I assumed that I could only help graduate students who were like math or science, because that’s what I knew. I didn’t go to grad school for English, or humanities, social sciences. I didn’t really know about those programs. But when I was making my videos and blog posts for the STEM students, I had people in the humanities and social sciences saying, “Oh my gosh, this is so helpful. I wish I knew this.”
What people were wanting to learn from me was not discipline specific. It was about time management. It was about organization. It was about productivity. Those principles can be used anywhere. Now, I always encourage students to figure out what works for them and just leave everything else that doesn’t work. Some things I say may work best for mathematicians, but you can probably tweak it to work for a psychologist.
Yeah, I very much just followed what my audience wanted from me. It wasn’t just grad school in general, it was time management and productivity.
Then as I grew my business, people started asking, “Well, how are you doing this business thing and being a lecturer at the same time?” So here I am, business consultant for academics. It’s just naturally progressed as my audience grew.
Jennifer: Oh, I just love that. It sounds like maybe YouTube was your favorite social media platform. It’s something that you were watching a lot and then you created a channel because you enjoyed creating videos for, is that right?
Toyin: Very much so, yes.
Jennifer: What do you like most of about YouTube? You said you were getting makeup tutorials and all sorts of stuff you were learning. Was learning an important aspect of watching YouTube videos for you?
Toyin: Yeah, I think so. I think because I’m very much an introvert. But I’m also an Enneagram 5. If you know Enneagram 5’s, we’re investigators. We love information. We like to know all the information. Whenever I’m learning something, I am just feeling joy.
My friends make fun of me because I will sit and watch these video essays that people do on YouTube. I don’t know if you’ve seen them, but they’re like 2-8 hour videos on YouTube where they deep dive, have thesis statements about pop culture.
Jennifer: What?!
Toyin: Yes. I recently watched one on the Vampire Diaries. Like nothing even serious. But they deep dive into each of the characters, into the storylines, and different seasons. What made them work? I’m just fascinated by that.
Jennifer: Teenage me would’ve been mind-blown over this because I loved L.J. Smith books when I was in middle school and high school. This was before they were re-released, before the Vampire Diaries was a TV show. So middle school me would’ve been all over the 8 hour video discussion of that. That’s so great. I didn’t know there were such long videos on YouTube.
My interviews are like 40 minutes to an hour max. That seems really long. I worry, “Oh my gosh, no one’s gonna watch the entire thing.” But people do. And then they email me and they’re like “This was so helpful!”
Now I’m hearing that even longer videos are performing well. That people are creating this new type of essay, like video essay content. That’s so fascinating.
Toyin: I love it. I love it so much.
The long ones I do it takes me a few days to watch it all, but I always go back. It’s almost like getting a peek into someone else’s brain, watching YouTube videos and how they format the video, how they choose to share the information. I just find that fascinating. I find it somehow easy for me to just sit in front of a camera and share my thoughts. Cause it’s still being introverted–I’m in a room alone talking.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Toyin: But I don’t know. I feel like my video presence is nice. People respond well to me on video. I enjoy consuming that type of content.
Jennifer: Yeah, that’s really interesting. I talk with professors often about encouraging them to do a little video for their website. Or, a little video for social media. When I was watching 15 Minutes of Shame, the documentary about Monica Lewinsky on HBO Max, one of the professors who was interviewed said that even seeing someone’s facial expressions for a few seconds makes a difference for how people understand us as people. How they can connect with us emotionally because of those facial expressions. And how before that, people don’t seem like real people. So I’m always telling people, even if you can do a short video where you’re just saying hi, it can make a really big difference for people who are coming to meet you.
What it sounds like is that even though you’re an introverted person, kind of like me, that being on video ended up being something that was comfortable for you. Maybe not incredibly comfortable at the beginning if you were embarrassed with your mom sharing those videos. But eventually you found the comfort level that encouraged you to create more content for your audience, and create that channel. I love that you shared all that with me. Even your anxiety in the beginning, when you first created the YouTube University channel.
Online presence, a way to impact more than just my school
Jennifer: Now, you’re a lecturer. You’re helping grad students, new faculty members with your side business. Why is sharing your message online important to you? Why is it helpful for you?
Toyin: Yeah, I think it’s just a way to impact more than just my school.
Jennifer: Mmhmm [affirmative].
Toyin: When I’m teaching, in my school, we have a big research university. But I’m part of the small class size initiative. Most of my classes have 19 students or less. I’m reaching very few students at a time, which is great for teaching. But there’s a world of people who have no idea about what grad school is all about.
Being able to hear as many stories about grad school as possible has to be helpful. I’m happy to share my perspective as a woman, as a black woman, as a black woman who’s a mathematician. Like what was that experience like for me?
I think people find comfort in hearing just different perspectives on things, and not just the one perspective on things.
Jennifer: Absolutely. I think that seeing different perspectives, especially for graduate students who are just coming into their programs…Seeing someone who looks like you, who has the success and the confidence that you have to run these multiple businesses, and be teaching, and doing all the things, and having this book.
Seeing that it is possible makes a big difference for graduate students. Seeing someone who looks like you in that space, probably makes them feel much more comfortable. I know I would have felt more comfortable learning from someone like you. Absolutely.
Toyin: Thank you. Yeah. Even my students in the classroom, they appreciate me being there. I’ll get emails from students like, “You’re the 1st black professor I’ve had,” or, “You’re the 1st black math teacher I’ve ever had.”
And I was like, “Wow.” I think it is important that I’m there, like it exists. And if you wanna do it too, you can.
Jennifer: That’s why you still teach. Right? You have a successful business, but you want to still teach. Why is teaching important to you?
Toyin: Oh my gosh. I love it so much. It is literally my dream job. I feel so much joy and so much fulfillment from teaching. I can’t imagine doing anything else.
It’s very interesting that you say that because I do have a business that is profitable. I was speaking to my accountant and she was like, “So, when are you gonna quit your job? Because do you think if you taught less, you would make more with your business?” I was like, “Probably, but I love it.”
Part of the reason for my business consultancy is we’ve worked so hard to become academics, to get the PhD, to get the master’s degree. It took a lot of sacrifice to do that. On the other side of it, I want to actually enjoy the life that I work for. What I see a lot with academics is they get their job, and then it’s just like grad school 2.0. They’re just like working, working, working. Living just for academia, and not for yourself.
I feel very blessed to have chosen a career that fulfills me and makes me happy. It doesn’t really feel super draining. It doesn’t feel like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to get away.” It’s something that I’m excited to do every single day.
But I also have this other life that’s outside of academia. That actually fuels me and makes me even more excited to go back to the classroom.
Jennifer: Ooh, I can hear your enthusiasm. I can sense it in your voice. And in your face, I mean, you look so happy talking about it. I can tell that you told your accountant, “No, I’m not quitting my job, I’m happy as a teacher.” I think that that’s amazing and your students get so much out of it. That’s excellent.
Now tell me more about The Academic Society. How can graduate students who are listening to this get involved? How can they get some help with their productivity and their time management?
Toyin: The first place I like to send people is the YouTube channel. You can go to The Academic Society with Toyin Alli. Just type in The Academic Society, you’ll find it. And I have playlists about time management, about my teaching blogs, and all of that.
Jennifer: Oh my gosh, incoming grad students, sign up for that. It’s going to be super helpful.
Toyin: Yes. And it’s basically, I’ve noticed, you know, there are some things that students don’t realize about academia and about grad school.
Jennifer: Mmhmm [affirmative].
Toyin: I wanna let them know what it is before they get started so they can prepare themselves. Signing for anything on my website is a way to get involved with the newsletter.
Then also joining my community on Facebook. If you’re on Facebook, I have a Facebook group called The Academic Society for grad students. Students are in there asking questions, chatting it up, meeting new people inside of that group every single day.
Jennifer: Oh, I love that. I will include the links so people can be sure to join your Facebook group, sign up for your mailing list, and check out those YouTube videos. I think it’s gonna be so helpful for graduate students. And that’s incoming graduate students, and if you’re in grad school and you know you can benefit from some of these skills, be sure to check out those videos. I know it will help you.
Understand why you do the things you do
Jennifer: Toyin, is there anything else you’d like to add before we wrap up?
Toyin: I would just like to say, it’s super important to understand why you’re doing the things you’re doing. Because that fuels you. It gives you the motivation.
I heard someone say, “I just wanna go to grad school so I can get those three letters, PhD.”
I was like, “Uh-oh, that’s not enough.” Grad school is a lot, and you’re gonna need something a little bit more than just wanting fancy letters behind your name. There’s a reason why you wanna do this.
I always encouraged students to get deeply connected to why they want to do this. Why they wanna go to grad school. Why they wanna be an academic. And to talk about it with others because it’s a great connection point. It can help motivate you and fuel you to help you keep going when it gets tough.
Jennifer: It sounds like it can help you make more informed decisions. No one’s telling you not to go to grad school or to do a different program or to, to get better with your goals. But talking to other people can encourage you in new ways that you might not have even thought of yet.
I know that talking with other people in grad school was massively helpful for me. I met a lot of people online who helped me not only choose what classes were gonna be most beneficial, but they helped me with actually talking to professors and standing up for myself when I needed it.
If I didn’t have community and grad school, I definitely would not have been as successful. And I wish that I had the productivity and time management skills that you were teaching, because I think that could’ve been really helpful to me. I am a procrastinator and I know it [laughs].
That kind of action based and accountability based thing that you were talking about grad students, if you’re listening, sign up for that mailing list and check out those videos, because it’s going to be so helpful for you. Be sure to get your copy of #GradBoss. Pick up your copy of that handbook to help you get through that first year of graduate school.
Toyin, I’m so glad you joined me for this interview. How can people get in touch with you afterwards? What’s your handle on social media?
Toyin: I am on Instagram @TheAcademicSociety_. That’s where all the grad school stuff is. But if you are already an academic and possibly thinking about having your own business, I talk about more personal stuff and more business-y stuff @DrToyinAlli.
Jennifer: Great! Thanks for sharing that with me Toyin, and have a great rest of your day. This has been an awesome interview.
Toyin Alli (@TheAcademicSociety_) is a McNair Scholar who received her PhD in Mathematics from the University of Alabama. She is now a full time Senior Lecturer at the University of Georgia. Toyin started The Academic Society LLC to help graduate students succeed in grad school through time management, productivity, and self-care. She reaches thousands of grad students through her digital programs, online social platforms, YouTube channel, and website.
