Volume 67, Issue 4  

Undergraduate Catalog Online
After 2-Year Absence

by Alan Goldsmith

The Yeshiva University Undergraduate Catalog, which was last seen four years ago, has now been updated through 2004 in an online version.  The catalog’s new edition was overseen by Amy Rotheim Sullivan, the Associate Director of Enrollment Management, and consists of a compilation of faculty listings, class descriptions, and program and graduation requirements.

Essentially, production of the catalog involved perusing past versions, extracting the useable content and updating the obsolete.  Faculty and cluster-heads, the academic discipline overseers, were consulted in order to provide in-depth listings of hundreds of courses in various departments, even though most are not offered annually.  According to Yeshiva College Associate Dean Joyce Jesionowski, “The faculty determines which classes to include by determining what combination of potential offerings best reflects the current status of each program.”

Once the necessary data was harvested and updated, the catalog was sent back to Sullivan for further editing.  Once all internal compilation was completed, it then went to a professional outside editor for further scrutiny.

Previous catalogs have also been placed online prior to official printing and distribution, but this year’s catalog differs.  It was created as an html file, which allows for easier editing, as opposed to the previous pdf file, which is more image-based and harder to edit, especially for laymen.

Sullivan asserted that in the future, the online catalog, accessible at www.yu.edu/catalog, would be edited as each change occurs, without having to wait days, weeks or months for the new changes to become part of the online version or print copy.  “The goal of the Enrollment Management office,” said Sullivan, “is that any printed material should come out online first, because I have the ability to put it online quickly and we won’t have to wait for the printer.”

This year’s online catalog was actually up in early August, before registration.  Its new html format is also full of cross-references, links, and other features that enable easier navigation by section than a printed book or the former pdf format.

From 2000 to 2002, there was no official undergraduate catalog for Yeshiva University, leaving students to refer to dated and often inaccurate material.  Sullivan, who came to Yeshiva last year and previously oversaw three catalogs at Columbia University, said she was not aware of why the hiatus occurred, but assured the students that there would be a catalog printed in 2004 to cover the next two-year period.  “By having this one done with easy formatting, and having a process for immediate submissions and editing, information gathering will be speedier,” emphasized Sullivan.  “Unlike past years, we also finally have real depth in staff in Public Affairs, Admissions and Enrollment, and that will get the 2004-2006 catalog out on time.  We’ve already started work on it,” she said.

The text version of the catalog is currently being reviewed at the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, and should be sent to the printers shortly.  The print version cover of the men’s catalog is more colorful this year, with pictures and enhanced fonts.  The Enrollment Management office is anticipating its release by the beginning of Open House, which is slated for November 10th on Wilf Campus and one week later on the Midtown Campus.

What do you think? Click here to send a letter to the editors.
All content is copyright © Yeshiva University Commentator.