Request a Site
HWP offers two options for website building based on the popular Drupal and WordPress platforms.
Your HarvardSites site will be provided on the platform that best meets the needs for your site, or based on School requirements. Each Harvard school has it's eligibility criteria, and certain schools also offer additional platforms to eligible users.
- Benefits-eligible faculty and staff employed by Harvard.
- Currently enrolled, degree-seeking graduate students.
Please review our Terms of Use for additional information and requirements. Faculty of Arts & Sciences (FAS) groups, individuals, and departments should review the Creating and Stewarding FAS websites guidance on the FAS website.
To request a HarvardSites website, submit a site request through your School or Unit’s established intake process, typically managed by your local web governance group or portfolio manager.
You will be asked to provide key details such as the site’s purpose, audience, ownership, and anticipated lifespan. This information allows governance teams to review and approve the request in alignment with local policies and institutional standards before the site is provisioned. Note: the site request and provisioning process can take 2-4 weeks.
After you submit a request for a HarvardSites website, it enters a governed intake and review process rather than being immediately provisioned.
Your School or Unit’s web governance group reviews the request to confirm the site’s purpose, ownership, and alignment with local policies and portfolio priorities.
Once approved, HWP proceeds with provisioning the site on the appropriate platform and notifies you when it is ready for use.
Timelines can vary depending on governance review cycles and completeness of the request, but this process is intentional. It connects site creation to clear stewardship, accountability, and long-term sustainability across Harvard’s web portfolio.
Your site’s domain follows standard conventions based on the HarvardSites platform you are using.
- For WordPress, sites are typically created with a default URL in the format sites.harvard.edu/sitename
- For Drupal, sites follow default specific naming conventions unless a custom domain is requested for the site
- For academic profiles, the default domain is firstnamelastname.scholars.harvard.edu/
- For other sites, the default domain is sitename.hsites.harvard.edu. See below for custom domain sites.
These conventions support consistency, governance, and long-term maintainability across Harvard’s web ecosystem.
Custom domains
- If your website requires a custom domain, it can be requested as part of the launch process and is subject to review and approval by your School or Unit’s web governance group.
- Third-level domains (sitename.harvard.edu) require authorization from the Trademark Office. Fourth-level School domains (sitename.fas.harvard.edu) require authorization and approval from the respective School or unit.
Custom domains should align with institutional naming standards and lifecycle policies to ensure clarity, reduce duplication, and support sustainable portfolio management over time.
Your site becomes publicly visible in two stages.
- First, HWP completes a technical launch, which includes applying your official domain and making the site accessible using that domain. At this stage, your site visibility is set to private (usually set to Harvard Community). Only site administrators and editors can view the site. While the site visibility is set to Harvard Community the site is not yet discoverable by search engines.
- After this step, the site owner can update the site’s visibility settings to allow indexing by setting the site visibility to Public. Search engines can then begin to discover and surface your site in search results.
HWP does not engage directly with individual departments on bespoke website builds or content strategy projects. But we do provide comprehensive support to help you successfully build and manage your website, including training, documentation, office hours, and guidance on platform best practices.
For departments seeking deeper, project-based support such as content strategy or specialized implementation, we maintain partnerships with trusted external vendors, including Lullabot, who are well-versed in HarvardSites and can provide tailored services aligned with HWP standards.
If you are a faculty, graduate student, or staff who owns a HarvardSites website you should review the knowledge base article Your website after leaving Harvard to understand what happens if you leave the University.
Websites from faculty or graduate students who leave the university will be subject to removal per School and Unit's web governance policies.
Please review our guidance on AI-generated websites and prototypes.