Assignment of Web Addresses

An organized approach to the maintenance of Web Addresses ensures that information is easily found when updates are required and for when there are changes to the organizational structure as is the case with the new revised site architecture being developed by BigBad. The Web Operations Department maintains the organizational structure of the WPI Web server. This includes, but is not limited to, where each site is placed in the hierarchy and the address that may be used to reference each site. The filename for a page in a site may be changed by the site maintainers provided it is in the CMS.

Any and all Web sites representing WPI or any part of WPI must be hosted on a server owned by the university. No department or entity affiliated with WPI is permitted to construct a site on, or relocate an existing site to, a server not owned by WPI. Exceptions may be made in cases where services are available in a third party application that the Web Operations Department is not able to supply such services. This decision will be made by the Web Operations Department. This decision can be appealed to the UDC Governance Committee.

Any and all Web sites representing WPI or any part of WPI must be hosted within the wpi.edu domain (e.g., www.wpi.edu/something or www.something.wpi.edu). The only exceptions permitted are for non-profit groups affiliated with the University, such as the WPI Venture Forum (www.wpiventureforum.org), and Greek organizations in which the national chapter owns the domain & host machine (www.pizeta.org), so long as the university's name or initials are not included in the domain. Any requested exceptions must be approved by the UDC Governance Committee.

Educational institutions are issued .edu addresses, not .com addresses. A .com address indicates that an organization is a "for profit entity." To protect WPI’s non-profit status, all domains related to WPI need to be.edu addresses. No department or entity affiliated with WPI is permitted to purchase a domain name for the purposes of publicizing a web site in the name of WPI or any part of WPI that has not been approved by the UDC Governance Committee. If you have questions about this please contact the Web Operations Department.

All academic departments and many administrative departments use a short URL to simplify their address for purposes of publication on brochures, business cards, and other literature. Some departments, such as Corporate and Professional Education and Mechanical Engineering, have, instead, selected a virtual host address.

Maintained by webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: Jun 26, 2008, 10:38 EDT