The Mississippi State University web portal was given a facelift over the summer break, changing its name from onCampus to myState on July 25 in order to better reflect the site’s purpose.
The switch was also intended to tie in with MSU’s current “This is Our State”campaign, said Mike Rackley, head of Information Technology Services. With the new name, the web portal gives students and faculty, alike, a personal feel, he said.
“We think the name resonates with people more,” Rackley said.
Rackley said the web portal needed freshening up and ITS wanted to create a bit of a buzz and excitement for the new school year. In the past, the name “onCampus” did not accurately reflect what the site does for members of MSU’s community.
There are no significant changes to the web portal overall. Aside from the name change and a few touch ups to the design and layout, the only difference is the addition of a new channel for employees that will go largely unnoticed by students but benefits faculty and staff in a major way by making important information regarding their work easily accessible.
ITS has received nothing but compliments and praise since the upgrade, with the only minor problem being that approximately a dozen web browsers had trouble opening BullyMail due to the cache of various browsers still reading onCampus instead of myState, Rackley said.
ITS is always looking for ways to improve the current system in this ever-evolving technological environment. The department’s goal is to always make sure it effectively serves each member of the MSU community in the best way possible, Rackley said.
In regard to the name connecting with MSU’s campaign, Student Association President Rhett Hobart said in an email all aspects of the effort come together to make the promotion of the slogan successful. Although the change was intended to improve the “onCampus” system, it serves a dual purpose of rebranding the system and coinciding with MSU’s overall campaign.
Hobart agreed the change was an important upgrade for the MSU family as a whole and commended ITS department for continually exploring opportunities that ensure the systems best serve the needs of the student body.
“The greatest benefit I saw when the idea was presented to me was the mobile integration that this new system introduced,” Hobart said. “With the creation of the new my.msstate.edu site, it not only shortened the link, but also introduced a website that allows greater mobile integration for our smart-phone generation.”
Rachel Parrish, senior kinesiology major, said she noticed no major differences and experienced minor log-in difficulties directly following the switch, but it did not take long for those glitches to work themselves out. She said she likes the new title much better than the previous and agreed the name change is beneficial for everyone involved.
“We keep saying ‘This is Our State’ and so it’s personalized for every student, because it’s My State as a part of the bigger community—our school and OUR state,” Parrish said.
Andrew House, a freshman biochemistry major, said he noticed immediately the switch made it easier for him to navigate the portal. He noted the name change made the web portal sound more legitimate than the previous title. 
“It sounds better as myState and it makes more sense,” House said.