Sandhills Community College has recently unveiled a new, user-friendly Web site.

This easily accessible Web site includes concise, relevant information that is structured to assist current and prospective students as they navigate their college path; the community as it participates in continuing education, cultural opportunities; and supports the college's foundation, faculty and staff with accomplishing their mission.

"Our goal in redesigning the Web site was to make it more user-friendly, informative and attractive for our students and the community," said Dr. John Dempsey, president of Sandhills Community College. "We hope everyone will find the site helpful and will visit it often."

The new site is clean and easy to navigate. The new college colors - burgundy, charcoal and black - are utilized throughout the site.

One of the main features of the home page is a rotating panel of current events and important announcements.

There are five main categories across the top of the home page. On every page that pertains to curriculum (college-credit) students, there is a link to allow online applications, a search function and quick links.

The "About SCC" section allows visitors to locate information about the college's history, administration, employment, the Green Initiative, the Ruth Pauley Lecture Series, the speakers bureau, Owens Auditorium, the Sandhills Horticulture Gardens and several more items.

The admissions section encompasses all the information needed by prospective students.

Student resources contains information needed by current students. This includes the multitude of student services available at the college and student facilities.

On the continuing education link, viewers can find all the areas of the division: basic skills, business and industry training, Center for Creative Retirement, community enrichment, computer courses, Ed2Go, Gatlin Online programs, human resources development, public services, professional development, the Small Business Center and Whole Health Programs. The current class schedules for each area are found on respective pages.

The final link across the top of the page, "Giving to SCC," features the many opportunities the public has to support the students and college programs through the Sandhills Community College Foundation.

Three prominent tabs on the bottom half of the home page transport the viewer quickly to news, upcoming events and class schedules.

The "news" tab contains current press releases. By clicking on the "news room" link, visitors can view all current and past -college press releases and photos.

The "upcoming events" tab highlights a list of events and a link to the full college calendar. The calendar contains all college-sponsored events, daily lunch menus, menus for the classical cuisine lunches offered through the culinary arts program, art and special exhibits, sporting events, holidays and much more.

Under the "class schedules" tab, visitors will be able to view the curriculum and continuing education class schedules. An electronic version of the print schedule, which is mailed to homes each semester, is available in this section.

A panel on the right side of the home page has links to a virtual tour of the campus, photos, a campus map and more.

All curriculum programs and majors offered at the college can be accessed through the "programs and majors" link. Prospective students can learn about career opportunities, and current students can access information regarding course requirements. Contact information for each program area is also found here.

"An area we neglected to include on our old site was 'business and industry training,'" said Karen Manning, director of marketing and public relations at Sandhills Community College. "We felt it important that the community be able to access the many things we offer the business community and the many programs we have for business education and training."

Other links on the home page include a complete campus directory, a link to request information, a student portal named "mySCC," a link to the athletics area, a link to the alumni association and a few more miscellaneous links.

"We launched the site in mid-December, and so far, reviews have been quite good," Manning said. "Sure we have little glitches to work out. That is to be expected. But overall, everyone seems pleased."

Manning was in charge of the overall design, graphics, photography, copywriting and organization of the site. She worked with Chad Parrish, the college's webmaster, who built and maintains the new site.

View the college's Web site at www.sandhills.edu.