The University communication office recently launched the website experts.uchicago.edu, which contains the biographies and citations of 350 faculty members, to allow journalists to connect with faculty to improve their stories.

The website is intended to “create more compelling and authoritative stories,” according to the website and Tim Gutowski, manager of Information Services at the News Offices.

Any faculty member who is willing to speak to reporters can be listed on the website by contacting the News Office, said Larry Arbeiter, director of University Communications, adding that it is “pretty heavily oriented towards the tenured faculty.”

Currently the website is a “beta version,” and reporters will be alerted to its existence next week, Arbeiter said.

The University community as well as the general public will have access to the site, but anyone trying to contact a faculty member will be screened by the News Office in order to prevent “calls from people looking for free advice,” Arbeiter said.

If the website draws “unwanted attention,” the News Office may need to restructure it to require passwords, although he said he is “optimistic” that this will not be necessary.

The website is the expanded online version of what was originally a booklet distributed to journalists, according to Arbeiter. He said that the move from print to the Internet was part of a trend among universities, and that it was “an innovative way” to spread information.