Southeastern launches 'Hot Spots' -- 'Spirit Central' for online features, downloads
Contact: Christina Chapple
4/18/08
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University has launched “Hot Spots,” an online headquarters for pride-related features from downloads to ecards to photo galleries.
Hot Spots, said Erin Moore, executive assistant to President Randy Moffett, is “Spirit Central” for Southeastern family, friends and fans. “When you talk to students and alumni about their school, they're fiercely proud of Southeastern,” she said. “Hot Spots features were created to help them showcase and project that pride.”
Hot Spots includes links to custom-designed Southeastern screensavers, ecards, wallpapers, MySpace layouts and buddy icons. The site also links to downloadable instrumentals of university’s fight song and alma mater, a photo gallery, and special video messages.
Students and other Hot Spots visitors can also learn about Southeastern traditions and browse suggestions of “Things to Do Before You Graduate.” The more than 130 items on the fun “to do” list range from “Participate in a research project with a faculty member” to “Take a nap under Friendship Oak,” and are conveniently linked to pages with additional information.
The new site initially can be accessed through a button on Southeastern’s home page, www.selu.edu. Hot Spots is permanently linked in the “quick links” menu on the bottom of every Southeastern Web page, and additional links have been placed throughout the web site.
Moore said Hot Spots was a collaboration of the university Web Site Coordinator Amber Layton and student assistant Dakota Chichester and various campus offices, such as Public Information, the Southeastern Channel, Admissions, and Student Affairs.
“Everyone came together to make sure Hot Spots would be attractive to current students, prospective students, alumni, faculty, staff and the community-at-large,” Moore said. “It was a truly cooperative effort and the end result is excellent.”
Layton and Chichester designed the Hot Spots pages to resemble a student’s open notebook, adorned with scribbles, snapshots and post-it notes.
“With students in mind, we wanted to make the pages fun and hip, something they would enjoy using,” said Layton. “Yet, we also wanted to make it an eye-catching site that would appeal to all audiences.”
The photo gallery showcases the work of university photographer Randy Bergeron. The more than 300 photographs depict campus and community scenes, academics, and student life, as well as old pictures including aerials from Southeastern’s earliest days.
Chichester, a graphic design major, also created two screensavers that have “green and gold” flare.
“One is a relaxed slide show with photographs of all of Southeastern sports teams from women’s soccer to football,” he said. “The other is fun and fast-paced, using animated typography and figures such as swinging bats and bouncing basketballs in a ‘Go Green, Go Gold’ theme.” Macintosh versions of the screensavers will be available soon, he added.
“While the features included in this initial launch are certainly fun and exciting, there's more in store for Hot Spots,” Moore said. In the works are a virtual tour of campus, additional academic-themed screensavers, video testimonials, cell phone ring tones and vocal versions of the fight song and alma mater.
"Hot Spots will not be stagnant,” she said. “Updates and additions will keep it a vibrant source of Southeastern pride. If you have any ideas or suggestions, be sure to use the feedback button that can be found at the bottom of each Hot Spots page.
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