Pitt-Johnstown’s Theatre and Athletic Department leaders have increased their outreach with new web offerings.

Theater department faculty launched its new Facebook page two weeks ago as The UPJ Theatre Department, according to theatre arts instructor John Teacher.

The page was created by senior Kevin Keen. Keen said that he created the page to expand the department’s scope.

“Social media has become the way to reach people,” Keen said.

Teacher embraced using social media.

“The first thing people ask is ‘Are you on Facebook,’” Teacher said.

Teacher said the page offers a number of benefits.

It allows for easy communication between webpage viewers and those running the page through conversation threads.

It also provides a convenient place to post photographs from shows.

He said he hopes the page will help students to easily build resume portfolios by making show photographs easily accessible.

Teacher said Pitt-Johnstown officials are aiming to update their entire website, and the Theatre Department is to get an upgrade at that time, too.

Teacher said he plans to keep the Facebook page along with the official UPJ theater site.

He said he plans to use the official site for major and minor information, while keeping the Facebook page for community interactions and photographs.

Keen said students can look forward to seeing behind-the-scenes photographs on the Facebook page from their upcoming performance “The Dream Play.”

The script is adapted from playwright August Strindberg and is to be performed Oct. 31, Nov. 1-2 and Nov. 7-9.

According to Teacher, the page allows for easier collaboration among schools. Theater students work mostly with Pitt-Greensburg and Juniata College theater students.

The new athletics website is also helping with collaboration. Sports Information Director Chris Caputo said the Athletic Department’s website was updated to link with the websites of the other colleges in Pitt-Johnstown’s division.

Now that the division websites correspond, uploaded files such as scores and statistics on the Pitt-Johnstown website will automatically update the websites of the other colleges in the division, according to Caputo.

He said this will make the website much easier to update.

The site can be accessed at pittjohnstownathletics.com.

Caputo said the new website is easier to use and has a newer, more modern appearance. He and Teacher said they hope the new websites will broaden the reach of their departments.