Houston Daily

The University of Houston has completed a major overhaul of its digital presence, migrating from the older Cascade CMS to the Modern Campus content management system. The change is intended to streamline website management, improve consistency, and enhance accessibility across the university’s online platforms.

Lisa Holdeman, vice president for marketing and communications at UH, said, “Our website is often the first impression we make on prospective students, families and the community. This migration ensures that UH presents itself with clarity, consistency and accessibility — reflecting the excellence of our institution.”

Over seven months, UH’s Web Marketing team collaborated with more than 130 campus stakeholders to move about 30,000 pages across 189 websites. During this process, over 400 users received training through more than 20 learning sessions aimed at ensuring a smooth transition.

Kyle Stehling, director of online marketing and user experience, noted the collective effort involved: “I’m incredibly grateful for the cooperation, buy-in and patience shown by our entire community throughout this migration. It was truly inspiring to see everyone come together on such a large scale to achieve this shared goal.”

From January to August 2025, in addition to transferring content, the team undertook significant cleanup work. They invested over 2,858 hours into removing outdated materials—deleting 13,000 old web pages and archiving another 18,000 assets including images and files.

Deana Kreitz, executive director of web and digital strategy at UH, compared the project to moving an entire university: “This migration was like physically moving an entire university. It forced us to pack up everything, evaluate what was truly necessary and throw away what was no longer useful. It gave us the chance to break old habits, streamline processes and put better systems in place. In the end, we didn’t just move our websites into a new platform — we reset how we manage content, strengthened compliance and built a sustainable digital presence for the future.”

The decision to implement Modern Campus aimed at giving content owners more tools for managing their sites efficiently. Features such as a WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get), reusable components, built-in checks for spelling and broken links, as well as accessibility features were highlighted as key improvements. Approval workflows and unified templates are also expected to support better governance and brand consistency throughout UH’s colleges and departments.

Stehling emphasized the role of staff during this transition: “I want to commend the resiliency and agility of our Web Marketing team. For seven straight months, they worked in a fast-paced environment, balancing competing priorities while delivering exceptional customer support. Their ability to troubleshoot issues quickly, assist with cleanup and maintain a positive, solutions-focused attitude throughout the migration made me incredibly proud.”

Looking ahead now that migration is complete, UH will focus on expanding its snippet library for editing efficiency; restricting custom HTML/CSS use in line with state regulatory requirements; updating design elements on uh.edu; and conducting usability studies for ongoing improvements.

Kreitz stated that ongoing development will remain important: “A website as expansive as uh.edu is never truly finished — it’s a living, evolving part of the University. This migration sets the stage, but the real work is in continuously improving, adapting and making sure our digital presence grows right alongside the needs of our students, faculty and community.”

Key figures from this project include:

- Migration of 189 websites

- Movement of approximately 30,000 pages

- Deletion of about 13,000 outdated pages

- Archival of around 18,000 assets

- Training provided to over 400 users

- More than 2,858 hours dedicated by staff