1. Describe any academic, professional, and/or extracurricular experiences that qualify you to lead the University Press.
Throughout my life I have had many opportunities to manage, both creatively and administratively, several companies and organizations. I established a public relations firm in Paris, France that organized and translated for American film productions, I founded a community theater in Denver, Colorado where I was the artist-in-residence and taught drama to children and after seven years abroad as a professional chef, I designed, built and ran a $1.5 million restaurant in New York City.
As a professional child actress I was exposed to complex and difficult work environments with conflicting personalities that required a high level of integrity, maturity and stamina as well as an ability to cooperate and integrate. In all of my business dealings I learned to leave my ego at the door for the sake of the greater good and to always be open to suggestion and change. Flexibility combined with perseverance always seemed to serve me well and I realized, at a young age, that respect was an integral element of any successful venture. I always knew the name of every crew member on the set, looked people in the eye when I spoke to them and regarded criticism as a constructive tool.
I have lived and worked all over the United States and in Europe. I have worn many hats, played many roles, suffered terrible loss and experienced great joy. I have negotiated my way through rough waters and have always emerged afloat. I am a team player who is aware of the caveats of power and control and I have mastered the virtues of compromise and negotiation. Since April, I have been freelancing for Forum Publications and the Deerfield Observer which has given me a better awareness of deadlines, newsrooms and working with a newspaper staff. But, the most telling evidence that I have what it takes to be a great leader and editor, is my work at the UP over the past semesters.
I ran for editor in the spring, but I realize now that I wasn’t ready at that time. Since then, I have impressed myself – and hopefully my colleagues – with my ability to take on diverse challenges and improve my skills in many areas. I wrote several cover stories (some of which won Bailyn Awards), I was editor of the New Student Edition, which was the highest circulated issue of the semester, I became Opinions Editor and have just recently completed my first photo essay cover on a day in the life of President Brogan. Although I had no idea how to write opinions, I took the challenge head-on and so far my opinion pieces have been extremely well-received and generated controversy. My experience as editor of the NSE proved that I could successfully mange a staff, operate under pressure and put out a great product
2. Describe a major strength and a major weakness of the University Press this semester.
It would be hard to pinpoint the major strength of the UP this semester, since there have been so many. Since April the UP has been on an upward spiral of improvement and success.
The staff is a stronger, more talented group than it has ever been and we just keep getting better. When Rachael was away over the summer, Jason became Editor-in-Chief and he did a great job uniting the staff, managing and administrating. For the first time we were all working together, pooling our abilities and learning how to get the best out of one another. We had the largest summer staff we have ever had and we were able to build a momentum that has continued to accelerate. Granted, we had the luxury of time since we published bi-monthly, but we managed to establish a system that worked well.
For the first time, we developed and expanded on ideas that were not just a flash in the pan. We continued what we started, like the entertainment section, the opinion section, the Artist’s Corner, illustrations and letters to the editor. We became consistent in our format, our content and our style. Andi, our art director painstakingly strove to correct any errors and trained her design team to do the same. For the first time, we had a PR and promotions director and we finally began our online coverage. The UP website had been virtually neglected, since we had no webmaster or anyone willing to take responsibility for running it.
As much as it does not behoove me to sing the praises of my running mate, I would be remiss in not crediting Jason for his relentless and brave coverage of Student Government. His SG cover stories created quite a stir and eventually lead to drastic changes in SG and administration policies. His coverage also gave me great fodder for my opinion column and thanks to him our website is getting more hits than ever. I think Jason was, and would be a fine editor and though I’m not sure I would do a better job, just a different one. I would like to have the opportunity to run the UP and bring some fresh ideas into play, leaving Jason more time to continue on his journalistic journey.
As for a major weakness, it would have to be the thing that continues to plague the UP despite our strengths: organization and communication. When Rachael returned from her internship the transition period was a bit rocky. It was difficult, as one would expect, for her to jump into a group of us that had formed our own rhythm. Eventually, she fell into the groove although she struggled to juggle the administrative and creative sides of being an editor. She was also very ill for several weeks and as a result, a communication system was never established. One thing that I would do as editor is ensure that communication is a priority. I think it is important to return emails and phone calls promptly, relay plans, ideas and any changes to all the staff members affected. AS long as everyone is kept in the loop there is nothing we can’t do.
3. Describe the most important goal you want to accomplish as editor and detail how you will do this.
Originally I planned to finish school last spring. However, I have delayed my graduation so that I can work at the UP and have an opportunity to be editor before I leave. I am an excellent reporter – I know how to talk to people and get information that others may not be able to uncover. I am a strong and prolific writer and as a photographer I have developed a keen creative sensibility for design and aesthetics. As editor the first thing on my agenda would be to establish a workable communications system and an itemized code of action. Every staff member’s job responsibilities will be posted as well as their hours. To function properly there needs to be a concrete schedule of operations so that everyone knows when each staff member is expected to be available. This needs to be consistent and any changes need to be broadcast to the entire UP staff. Staff members need to be accountable for their assigned duties. If they cannot attend a designated meeting or cannot perform their duties, they need to notify everyone.
There will be a mandatory, weekly writers meeting which will serve as an open forum for ideas and suggestions for story ideas and cover concepts. Editors will be responsible for working with writers on developing story ideas, assigning news and covering beats. As part of the writers support we will implement a writing workshop that will consolidate all that we have learned into weekly handouts and subsequent discussion. Designers will also meet with writers to formulate a design concept before the writer and photographers begin their reporting. It is imperative that the designers and writers work together to formulate a story since both are intrinsically dependent on one another.
As editor I will encourage the writers to ferret out interesting stories and do more intensive investigation. Too many times reporters become discouraged and do not pursue leads that could generate a great story. Students need to learn to be assertive and persistent and not be intimidated by sources. Based on the success of the journalism conventions in New York and St. Louis, I would bring in professional journalists to speak to the staff as well as arrange “internships” at professional publications.
One of the most important, and challenging, aspects of an editor’s job is staff management. The UP is a training ground for the future and as editor it is important to establish work ethics and management skills that would apply to any profession. As difficult as it is to find a good staff, the harder it is to keep one. As editor, I would rely on motivational techniques to make the new staff want to stay and veteran UPers want to raise their respective bars. Students need to feel autonomous and in control of their own work, they need to have confidence (which comes from constructive criticism, praise and acknowledgment of improvement) and most importantly, they need to feel a sense of relatedness – a feeling that they belong to a group and that they are part of the process.
I would make sure that any student who expressed any interest in working at the UP would be welcomed, listened to, encouraged and followed up on. So often, students come to a meeting and leave, never to be heard from again. We need to get their numbers, contact them, and make them feel like they can be worthy contributors. It is difficult for a rookie to come up with ideas for a story, let alone write one, so editors should give newcomers a small, easy assignment that will get into the “new candidate” page right away. We also need to let them know that their work does not have to be perfect. We are here to learn and the editors will be more than happy to work one-on-one with contributors to help whip their work into shape.
Once they see their name in print they might get the bug and keep coming back.
As far as content is concerned, I would direct our focus more on the students of FAU. I would include more stories and more photographs of students which I believe will create more incentive for students to read the paper and share it with friends and family. Students want to see themselves in print and by including them in the UP we can boost circulation and spark more interest in the UP. They also want news and features that they can relate to; topics that affect their lives as FAU students.
Both the content and design needs to be energized and a little more “sexy,” in order to attract a larger readership. Our cover stories need to be more stimulating, thought-provoking and basically, more interesting. We need to entice students and faculty to pick up the paper. Make them curious and provide them with a satisfying product that will make them want to come back for more.
Basically, I feel that as an editor it is my job to harness the creative energy of the staff and put out a respectable product that will appeal to the FAU community. The words may be powerful but they make no impact if no one reads them. I think that we need to inspire and excite. This is not just a job; this is a passion, and a stepping stone to the future.
4. What novel methods will you employ to ensure the University Press covers every FAU campus?
In order to ensure that all FAU campuses receive coverage the first step is
fundamental: the editor needs to actually go to each campus and interact with the students. We need to go to communication classes and speak to the importance of each campus having representation in the UP. I think that the UP staff has unintentionally made campuses, other than Boca, feel marginalized and less important by excluding them from the weekly contribution to the UP.
I think that we should make room in the budget for a circulation monitor that would make sure that the paper is properly dispensed. Once a month we should hold a UP campus meeting that would be open to anyone and encourage students to participate in having their voices heard.
Every issue should have at least one to two pages dedicated to Northern and Southern campuses (depending on content) especially now that we will be our book has expanded with the Sun Sentinel. Most importantly, the News Editor needs to keep the lines of communication with campus editors open and fluid. We cannot just wait and see if the editors submit any stories. We need to be in constant contact with them, discussing story ideas and following up on news pieces. I think that campus editors should be required to attend at least two UP staff meetings per month in order to provide their input and have a more active participation in the UP production.
I suggested, and started, a profile page last semester and so far, we have had several profiles of students and faculty in print. This is a perfect venue for all campuses to be a part of the UP even if there are limited news stories in a given week. Also now that we have an entertainment page there is another opportunity for campuses to write about any art, theater or music events that may be happening.
Finally, once a month the UP should host a “UP Day” at each of the campuses. Members of the UP staff will have a table, hand out papers, talk with potential writers, designers and photographers and maybe have interactive activities where we give them a chance to contribute something and they have the opportunity to see their names in print. Publication is a great incentive to get people involved.
5. What original ideas do you have, and what specific resources will you commit to UP online?
I have always been interested in investigative journalism – pieces that get to bottom of an issue and uncover facts that most people are not privy too. Since the UP is not a daily, I think we are a perfect place to do more cover stories like this. The success of our SG pieces tells me that students are interested in stories that have some meat, something they can sink their teeth into. Other than SG we haven’t really had any other investigative pieces and I would like to start doing some more. There are several places, right here on campus, that can give us ideas about stories that will be of interest to the FAU community such as campus safety, faculty and student breakdown, student athletics and the popularity and use of social network sites like MySpace.
One of my main goals is to increase student readership and participation. To this end, I think we should implement some features that would compel students to pick up the paper every week. Some ideas:
1. I would like to start an advice column that anyone on our staff could respond to, depending on the area or field of the particular question.
2. I would encourage more students to write opinions. Everyone has a voice – they just need a place for it to be heard. Plus I am only two ears. We need to hear from people about what is going on – what students want, what they’re bitching about, etc.
3. I’d like to run a weekly photograph that’s subject is ambiguous and people have to guess what or where it is. Or, just a cool photo spotlighted for the week
4. Begin a writing contest that would print student writing samples from wanna-be writers and have the readers vote. This would not only encourage people to get involved but can help boost interest in being a part of the UP.
` Many of us are graduating in the spring so I think it is important that the editor begin to set a strong foundation for the next generation. We also need to cultivate a good relationship with out printers and sources, both here and off-campus. This semester we will have to work hard to stimulate interest in the UP so that we can build a staff that will carry on the great work we have begun.
UP Online has proven to be a valuable resource for the UP, especially in light of the constantly changing SG situation. We have been able to update breaking news that otherwise would have to wait until the following issue. As a result I would allocate funds for a professional webmaster although I think that we already have a secret web weapon in Jason and Michele. I think by working hand in hand with a professional webmaster, Jason and Michele could expand their web knowledge and take what they have already begun, one step further.
