NJ.com, the online home of 12 New Jersey newspapers, including The Star-Ledger, has launched a new web portal devoted exclusively to news about Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
The website (http://www.nj.com/rutgers-university) highlights news and information about Rutgers created by NJ.com’s affiliated newspapers and The Daily Targum, Rutgers University’s student newspaper, as well as feature stories, athletics updates, event offerings, videos, and additional multimedia content developed by Rutgers. It is the first such alliance NJ.com has established with a university.
“Rutgers is such a strong institution in New Jersey. When we were looking at our strategy, which is really about building community in New Jersey and engaging our users, it made sense for us to work together and to bring the voice of Rutgers to our site,” said Barbara Chodos, the general manager of NJ.com.
“An alliance between the state's biggest university and the state's biggest news and information website can only benefit New Jersey residents," Chodos added.
The Rutgers page on NJ.com is the result of a relationship that started in September 2009, when the university launched Rutgers Today (rutgerstoday.rutgers.edu) its online news center. NJ.com began to feature Rutgers Today content while Rutgers Today began displaying NJ.com news stories and hosted a link to NJ.com on its site.
'An alliance between the state's biggest university and the state's biggest news and information website can only benefit New Jersey residents.' – Barbara Chodos, general manager, NJ.com
This early content exchange prompted discussions about expanding the collaboration to create a permanent Rutgers section on the NJ.com site. The result is a website that aggregates content from NJ.com’s affiliated newspapers and from several content streams at Rutgers.These include Rutgers Today, Rutgers Magazine, The Daily Targum, and Scarlet Knights.com, the official website of Rutgers Athletics.
The NJ.com/Rutgers website also features local news, discussion, videos, classifieds, entertainment listings and more from Rutgers’ host communities in Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, and Piscataway as well as a section for bloggers.
Kim Manning, vice president for University Relations at Rutgers, said the collaborative web effort with NJ.com is another step forward in the evolution of Rutgers’ approach to communication.
“With online news traffic and social media use continuing to grow,” she said, “Rutgers has expanded its efforts to better inform the university’s many audiences about the activities and accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni as well as the excellence of the university’s programs and initiatives.
“The alliance with NJ.com gives us another portal to tell the Rutgers story,” Manning said.
NJ.com is the largest local news and information source in New Jersey, with 6.5 million unique users and 50 million page views. Based in Jersey City, it is an affiliate of Advance Internet, Inc., (www.advanceinternet.com) a leading creator of interactive, online community-based news and information websites created in alliance with more than 25 newspapers affiliated with its parent company, Advance Publications Inc.
Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 50,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers offers more than 280 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degree programs. The university is home to 27 degree-granting schools and colleges, and more than 150 specialized centers and institutes.