New UR App aimed at student, alumni and faculty interests

Campus maps, feature stories, dining menus, the campus directory, course catalogs and athletic scores are just some of the features that are now at your fingertips if you have an iPhone or Android. After six years in the making, the University of Richmond Communications staff released the UR app this summer, which has reached 2,000 downloads.

"The overarching goal is to put the University of Richmond experience in the pocket of our constituents as closely as possible," said Phillip Gravely, director of web and editorial strategy.

The creators of and contributors to the app made it so it could be tailored to each member of the student body, alumni or faculty, based on their personal interests, Gravely said.

"When you go into the app ... you can go in by individual areas of interest and academic program and select news and updates to come into your wall based on your unique relation to the university," Gravely said.

For example, students who are interested in certain academic majors can have that department's news and updates on their wall, Levy said.

Taylor Durland, an international business and marketing major, said he used the app for Robins School of Business updates.

"I also use it to check if ETC is still open," Durland said. "If I'm not sure when Thanksgiving break is, and I have to book flights, it comes in handy."

Junior Kayla Miller said she used the campus map feature this first week of school to find a building on campus.

The app's purpose was to be a device with centralized information, Gravely said.

"Our philosophy is we are a community... let's get all of our ideas together into one app," Gravely said.

"The genesis of this is we want to have a single University of Richmond app experience," Gravely said. "We don't have 15 apps out there that can do 15 things."

Levy and Gravely are open to collaborating with students who have ideas to improve the app. Junior Niki Liu grouped all the hours of campus businesses and placed them on one website that is now linked to the app.

"We are happy to work with students on good ideas," Levy said. "We have resources and experience that students would not be able to get."

Gravely said the app's success could be attributed to the University of Richmond Alumni Association. The organization helped jumpstart the project with financial support, ideas and opinions, he said.

The general feedback from those who have already downloaded the app is that it is exceptional because it is easy to use, Gravely said.

Contact staff writer Marie Jayme at marie.jayme@richmond.edu