UMaine.edu is the premiere Web site for the University of Maine. UMaine is located in the town of Orono, along the banks of the Stillwater River and offers a strong traditional education at an affordable price. UMaine help students create success stories – with a wide variety of programs and opportunities – and we do so with world-class faculty members, nationally recognized research; first-rate facilities; a friendly, safe atmosphere; and easy access to some of the best year-round recreation sites in the nation.

Why it’s in the Showcase: UMaine.edu uses WordPress MU as a customizable CMS and branding engine for the various departments and units that make up the whole of UMaine. The web development team is continuously creating new plugins and modifying appropriately licensed plug-ins to further the goals of UMaine’s online presence.

UALR is a metropolitan university on the move, a dynamic learning institution where students find unique learning and internship opportunities provided through one-of-a-kind connections to the state’s thriving capital city.

Why it’s in the Showcase: The homepage of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock runs entirely on WordPress. Developed and deployed by the University’s web services team, the new site is an excellent use of WordPress as a CMS. The site uses links to manage the top navigation elements, and tags and categories for news and events. The top header image and sidebar are both managed with posts.

In 2003, some of our teachers in Goochland County Schools began publishing to the Web in a new format called a blog. In 2005, Goochland’s schools launched a division-wide initiative for teacher blogging. That same school year, we introduced student blogging behind our network. For the 2008-09 school year, we take another leap ahead with “Teacher Blogs 2.0.”

Why it’s in the Showcase: A small school district embracing blogging and giving its teachers a way to communicate with students and parents through blogging is an excellent use of WordPress MU in education.

Why it’s in the Showcase: BGSU is one of a growing number of universities using WordPress MU to offer a free blog to any interested student, faculty, or staff member.

The Garfield Messenger is a student-run newspaper at Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington. The paper has been a part of Garfield since 1922, and currently has 40 students on staff with one faculty adviser. A 24- to 32-page paper is printed approximately twice a month, a yearly total of 14 issues.

Why it’s in the Showcase: The theme for the Garfield Messenger was designed from scratch and interprets and uses information from the WordPress MySQL database to do things such as automatically create galleries of photos taken by photographers. Even though the site is technically a blog, it mimics the layout and functionality of a professional news website.

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Berkeley is a community of scholars that gathers faculty and students working across a wide range of themes and geographic areas. It counts with specialists in the fields of literature, culture, and linguistics.

Why it’s in the Showcase: The award-winning site for the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Berkeley features an impressive design, faculty listings and weblogs, news, and more, all powered by WordPress.

The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship blogs are a place to exchange ideas and opinions about corporate citizenship.

Why it’s in the Showcase: Any university embracing WordPress and blogging is notable and Boston College’s implementation of WordPress is well done.

Outreach Magazine is published by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia.

Why it’s in the Showcase: Attractive, easy to navigate, and interesting, the site for the University of Georgia’s Outreach Magazine’s implementation of WordPress is extremely well-done.

The daily news and information portal for Texas Tech University.

Why it’s in the Showcase: Featuring everything from photos to weather information, Texas Tech Today serves as a crucial information hub for the nearly 30,000 student Texas Tech University. Behind the scenes, Texas Tech Today makes use of custom fields and a variety of plugins to display much of the site’s video and constantly changing content.

Why it’s in the Showcase: The site uses a custom WordPress plugin to provide all of the necessary functionality to the magazine staff.