With both private and public sector experience, Ryan Thompson is a tech industry veteran with expertise in software engineering, user experience/interface design, mobile/web applications, and cloud infrastructure. A UH graduate, the polymath Thompson is also a green thumb, writer, and a Lego enthusiast.
Keep scrolling to see how he'll put his unique talents to use at UHD.
Airports. Thanksgiving Dinner. An afternoon visit to the dentist.
At least one of these likely brings to mind a painful or uncomfortable memory for
you, the memory of an experience gone
horribly awry (thanks Uncle Dave). And while we all have just as many good experiences
with travel and holiday meals as we have bad ones, the negatives stick out and are
easier to recall. This is due to what's called negativity bias. As you might imagine,
the same goes for our experiences with websites.
Enter Ryan Thompson, Executive Director of Web Marketing. "I'm interested in creating digital experiences that people love to use, so that's my goal: To position UHD as an experiential university when it comes to the digital world," he said. "When people click on our website, when they click on our ads, when they click on anything related to UHD, I want them to immediately say, 'Wow, what a polished university.'"
Crafting that kind of digital experience won't just increase the university's online visibility, though—Thompson sees his work as more far-reaching than that. If interested students find programs or course registration easier, he said, enrollment will benefit. If academic and career support services are found smoothly, retention and graduation rates should improve.
And while Thompson is leading UHD toward providing such experiences, he can't do it alone. This kind of wholesale transformation—Refresh, Redesign, Reimagine, Thompson's tagline for this initiative—will require collaboration across the university, from Web Support Specialists to Deans, Vice Presidents, and Student Workers, something he welcomes.
In fact, Thompson isn't just inviting input. He's making the campus rounds, gathering feedback, and using it as he works to elevate the UHD digital experience. "It's about understanding what's important to our users and decision makers, as well as what's important to the very specific audiences some of the divisions target."
In other words, he's here to help each department, college, and division reach their goals, while also assisting with brand standard alignment. Each college, he said, should and will be empowered to curate their own content.
But all of this is in the relatively near future. Looking even further ahead, Thompson said that a mobile app is forthcoming, one that will provide each user who downloads it a personalized, curated experience, be they a student, visitor, or someone else.
And so... when Thompson sounds the clarion call for your input or involvement, make sure you answer. Future students, alumni, and donors depend on it.
Please contact the team at digitalmedia@uhd.edu for any web or mobile related requests.