What do I include on my personal academic website? What kind of pages should I include? Jennifer van Alstyne shares 35 ideas to inspire faculty for your academic website project.
Personal academic websites for professors don’t all look the same. There isn’t a ‘right way’ to make your website. While it’s great to get inspiration from other academic websites, it’s okay if your website is a bit different.
When choosing what to prioritize, what you dream about for your personal academic website, consider the people you hope to reach. Your personal website is a great way to help more people with the research, teaching, and projects you value as a professor or researcher.
Don’t worry, you won’t need all 35 pages I share in this article, (though it’s okay if you want a more extensive website like some of my professor clients). Your personal website can be adapted for anything you want it to be. That’s a beautiful thing. You can also just have a 1 page personal academic website. Please know I’m cheering you on! You can make your website a reality in 2025.
I hope the page ideas help you plan your personal academic website so it feels more like you / better meets your needs.
Do you have a website? Enter the 2025 Best Personal Academic Websites Contest.
Here are 35 page ideas for your personal academic website.
View the full list of website pages
- Homepage
- About / Bio
- Research page
- Teaching page
- Team / Our Group / Collaborators page
- Get Involved page
- In the Community / Community Engagement page
- Podcast page
- Publications / Writing page
- Speaking Engagements / Talks / Presentations
- Workshops page
- Consulting page
- In the Media / Press / Media and Press page
- Interest / Hobby / Life Outside Academia page
- Contact page
- News page
- Blog
I’ve been helping professors with their personal academic websites since 2018. While this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the website pages you could have for your personal academic website, it’s more extensive than people typically want for themselves. Have a page idea I haven’t mentioned? Email me at Jennifer@TheAcademicDesigner.com
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Homepage
Your homepage is the 1st page most people will visit when coming to your website. For many, it’s the only page they’ll see.
If you have a 1-page personal academic website, here’s what to include.
When you plan on a more extensive personal academic website, could be a cover image with a main menu inviting people to other pages on your website.
Most professors I work with prefer to include a bit more: like a short bio with a short description of their research and research areas.
About / Bio
If you have a 1-page website, your bio will be on your homepage. Many people prefer to have a short bio of a few sentences to a paragraph on their homepage, and then a separate About or Bio page.
I like this approach because it gives academics space to share a bit more of their story. For tips on writing your academic bio, watch my video with Dr. Echo Rivera on YouTube.
The faculty members I’ve worked with often share things like their education, appointments, and affiliations on their About/Bio page as well.
Awards and Fellowships
It’s okay if you don’t want to share this on your website. The professors I work with on website projects often say “I don’t think I need that,” with feelings of not wanting to brag. I share with them that when I was in grad school, finding faculty’s past awards and honors on their personal academic website helped me feel excited about opportunities I could try for myself.
Many of those professors decided to add their Awards and Honors or an Awards and Fellowships page to their website. And just not have it be so prominent (like maybe it doesn’t go in the main menu, you link to it from your bio).
Only have a few awards or fellowships to share? That’s ok! I often encourage grad students and early career researchers to create this page anyway. Or, to share it as a list on your About / Bio page. Do what feels right for you.
Service page
“The service I’ve done for my university / school / department / profession is important to me,” is that true for you? It’s okay to make space for this on your personal academic website.
When the service you do in academia is meaningful to you or to your students, you can share it on your website.
Leadership page
Have affiliations and leadership positions to share? Mid-career and senior career academics especially find they want space to share the teams / projects they lead. It’s often more about sharing the impact of that work while specifying your role. This leadership page can highlight what you value about this work, share your collaborators, and share links where people can learn more.
Research page
Share a short description of your research. List your current projects and collaborators. While there are many ways to organize your research page depending on what you most want to share, professors sometimes have more organizational needs.
When it comes to your research, you’ll want to consider whether each project should have its own page on your personal academic website, or can just be a description on your main Research page.
Projects / Research Topics page
Some people prefer a separate page specifically for their research projects (or, for each research area they focus on). One of my professor clients shared they find this is a good way to share “the latest news” or what their team was focused on now.
Want to share a description of your project and the details? Some academics like to include more information about your research project than a short description and photo or figure. That’s when you’ll want a Projects subpage (next).
Project subpage(s)
When you have more to share about some or all of your research projects/topics, creating a subpage gives you that space. This is a great way to better share the story of your research, collaborators, photos, outputs, methodologies, resources, and related links.
Sometimes your research project needs it’s own space separate from your personal academic website. This is especially true if the whole team should be involved or more than you need to be able to make changes to the website. In this case, consider creating a Research Project Website you can link to on your personal academic website.
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Teaching page
The Teaching page on your website is for your students. Faculty tend to share things like a list of their courses, course descriptions, syllabi, and sample student assignments. You may want the Teaching section of your website to be even more useful. While you could create a page for each course, these are the subpages academics typically consider:
Request a Recommendation page
Are you a faculty member who writes letters of recommendation? Your website is a great way to facilitate that process with ease. You can share directions, a Google Form to collect responses to the questions you have for writing their letter, and even a Frequently Asked Questions section.
Student Resources page
Are there media, links, or other resources you typically share with your students? While you can share these in your school’s LMS for each course, or on your syllabus, your personal academic website can be a great way to keep those Student Resources updated in one place.
One of my faculty clients had Resources pages for different purposes (Faculty/Teaching Resources, Student Resources).
Internships and Opportunities page
“The internships page is the most visited page on my website,” said a faculty member from a small liberal arts college. We grinned, thinking about how many people the work he was already doing on a regular basis was helping people. It was cool to have the page view data to back up that resource was a good use of the professor’s time.
While you don’t need to start doing something like this, your website can be a great resource for the people you care about.
Team / Our Group / Collaborators page
When you’re a research lead, principal investigator, or a professor who frequently collaborates with other people, you can create space to celebrate them on your personal academic website.
This is a great place for team or collaborator photos. You can list names. Or, share their bio and links to get in touch (e.g. email, website, social media).
Opportunities / Join the Team page
Are you recruiting for your research project or group? You can create a page specifically for helping people join your team.
Alumni page
Highlight alumni to share people who were once part of your group. Some faculty list names, others like to include a longer entry with photo, name, bio, and links.
Mentoring page
Some academics are both teachers and mentors. They wonder if it’s right to create space for their mentoring on their faculty website. When mentoring is meaningful to your life, or you want to celebrate your mentees, having a Mentoring page may be a good fit for you.
This page might be a subpage of your Team page or your Teaching page, wherever you feel is most relevant to your academic life.
Get Involved page
Are there ways to get involved with your research? Whether you’re looking for partners, collaborators, team members, or participants, your website can adapt to reach the people you want to connect with. A Get Involved page can invite deeper engagements with your research. What’s the next step for them in connecting with you?
In the Community / Community Engagement page
Are you an academic who does work in the community? Your website is a great place to share your community partnerships and what you care about most. While you might have 1 page for this section, some professors prefer to share more about your work in the community:
Community Partners subpage
When you’re actively seeking new community partners, inviting people to know ways you can support them / how you can collaborate together is a great idea. This can be done from the main In the Community page (above). But you can also create a page that shares your existing partners, especially if you want so share a short description of each organization or initiative.
Community Projects / Events subpage
Do you have a specific project or community engagement you want to share? You can create as many subpages as you need. This is a great way to create space for your short-term needs to (like for an upcoming event).
Podcast page
Have a podcast? Create a page to share your podcast. Share a short description of your podcast so people know what to expect. You can embed your podcast on the page. And, add share links to other places people can find your podcast.
Publications / Writing page
Typically this page is a list of your publications or writing by year. Some academics and researchers prefer to list their publications by topic. I love including abstracts on this page because it helps more people find your website when searching for related topics online.
P.S. Did you know you can share Altmetric badges on your personal academic website to help share your research impact?
Books page
A great option for professors with multiple books. This is a page that shares all your books. At minimum, the covers of each book. But you could also share a list with more such as a description for each book and buy links.
Book subpage
I love Book pages for professors, a page on your personal academic website dedicated to your book. Typically I’ve included things like description of your book, book cover, buy links, table of contents, co-author bios, related talks/speaking, video(s), links or other resources.
Book excerpt page
Many academic presses allow you to share an excerpt or portion of your book on your personal academic website. Email your editor / the press to request permission to share an excerpt of your book.
What portion of my book should I share? I suggest to my faculty author clients that you choose either the introduction, the section you feel is most usable for people, or the section that is the best teaching resource.
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Speaking Engagements / Talks / Presentations
Not sure what to call this page? You’re not alone. Some academics call this Speaking Engagements, Talks, or Presentations. Typically this page is a list of your talks by year. I love including abstracts on this page because it helps more people find your website when searching for related topics online.
Talk subpage(s)
When you have more to share about a particular speaking engagement, talk or presentation, you can create a subpage for that.
This is a great way to share resources, video, related links, or even the full text of your talk. Professors like that they can share the link to this website page with people at their talk (and for people who missed it).
Workshops page
Workshops can definitely go on your Speaking / Talks / Presentations page. But they don’t have to. When you deliver professional development training or custom workshops, you might create space to better share that by having its own page.
Include Workshops on the main Speaking page unless your Workshops page has a different or more specific audience. If it will help aligned people find your workshop who need help in that area, it’s better to create that space for your Workshops.
Consulting page
Are you a professor who consults with groups, companies, or organizations? A Consulting page may help aligned people take the 1st step to working with you.
In the Media / Press / Media and Press page
A place to share your media mentions and appearances. This includes mentions in your university news, local and national news, podcast appearances, quotes, interviews, features, YouTube or video appearances, etc.
This page helps people know when you may be a good person for them to reach out to. It’s a good practice to list the topics you’re most interested in being approached for at the top of the page.
Media Kit page or downloadable
When media appearances is a goal for you or your research, a Media Kit can help facilitate communication with journalists and members of the media with more ease. Having a Media Kit page or downloadable (like a Google Doc public share link) can share your bio, photos, and links.
Interest / Hobby / Life Outside Academia page
Your personal academic website doesn’t need to be 100% focused on your research and teaching life. When you have an interest you care about, that you’re open with sharing with people, it deserves space on your personal academic website if you want that. One of my professor clients for instance, was engaged in orchestras, she cared about music even though her research focus was a completely different area. Even though it wasn’t up front in center on her website, it felt good to have a space to share that part of herself online.
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Contact page
II prefer the simplicity of an email button or icon, as that’s how I (and most academics) prefer to be contacted.
When you have a Contact page on your website, you have space for more information. I don’t typically recommend Contact Forms. Even when your website host has a pre-configured option to have a contact form on your website, it’s not something I use for personal academic website projects. This is because contact forms don’t always work in some regions / devices. If you use a contact form on your website, it’s a best practice to include your email address too.
News page
To be open, most of the professors who come to me with an existing website with a News section, end up taking that out when we redesign their website. The News section was “too much” to keep updated in the sense that it quickly felt outdated compared to other content on their personal academic website. I mentioned earlier one of my professor clients used the Projects page for this purpose as it was the most relevant type of ‘News’ they had to share. And most ‘News’ or something you want to announce can actually fit into one of the other 34 pages mentioned in this article.
If you want a News page on your website, great! Consider what types of news you’ll want to share there so you have a process in place for when that page needs to be updated.
Blog
Many professors have considered some type of long-form or regularly posted content. Whether it’s a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or other form of media, the ‘Blog’ space or functionality on your website is a great place to share that. And, search engines love it. My favorite website host for academics who may want this capability in the future is WordPress, and I like WordPress.com because it takes care of things like security and updates for you.
Good luck with your personal academic website project!
Find website resources to help you do it yourself on The Social Academic blog.
Get inspired with websites from our Best Personal Academic Websites Contest. The contest reopens for entries this year! Email me for a personal invitation to enter your website to win an award when this year’s contest opens, at Jennifer@TheAcademicDesigner.com
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