New leadership for student media

The Board of Student Communications reviewed applications and interviewed candidates for positions at four on-campus publications and the Drake Broadcasting System. Positions were filled, and results were announced for the 2011-12 school year. Autumn Moore is the new president of the DBS, Erika Owen was selected to be editor-in-chief of Drake Magazine, Molly Bochanyin was re-hired as the editor-in-chief of DUiN, Jeff Hoyt will serve as editor-in-chief of Drake’s art and literary journal “Periphery,” Kristen Smith will take over as editor-in-chief of The Times-Delphic and Kaila Swain will take on the title of business manager for The Times-Delphic.

Biweekly ads for the offered positions were placed in The Times-Delphic three weeks prior to the March 25 interviews. There were two or three applicants for each post, and members of the BSC — a group of various faculty members and student senators — cast votes after 10 minutes of dialogue with each candidate and 15 minutes of reflective discussion. One quality the BSC looked for was leadership, Senator-At-Large Michael Riebel said. But that wasn’t the only criteria considered.

“Of course we looked at who we thought had the best leadership skills,” said BSC member and Associate Professor Jeff Inman. “But we wanted to find people with the best skill set and who we thought could get students involved and interested in the [media outlets].”

After about three hours of deliberation, all the decisions were made, and Riebel said he is pleased with the selections.

“I’m very confident the candidates chosen will do their best to continue to improve the campus publications,” Riebel said.

Because Drake is recognized for its journalism school and student-run publications, Riebel said it is important the new leaders work hard to uphold that status. A number of the publications have been finalists for and even won Pacemaker awards, and one of the new editors hopes to continue her publication’s success by making various improvements.

“I want to produce the caliber of the magazine our readers are still used to,” said Owen, a sophomore magazines and international relations major and entrepreneurship minor, who has been on the DrakeMag staff since the beginning of her freshman year. “But I really want to revamp the site and make it the best it has ever been.”

Riebel also noted that 27 percent of student activity fee funds go to the BSC. Upon hearing this figure, one student says she wants premium end products when so much student money is going into these projects.

“It’s important that these campus leaders know what they’re doing because they’re handling a lot of money,” first-year marketing major Claire Vandercar said. “If they’re not representing Drake well, there are plenty of other organizations that could use the money.”

The next step for those recently hired is to appoint staff and plan for next year.

2011-2012 Student funded media leaders

DBS–
Autumn Moore
Drake Magazine–
Erika Owens
DUiN–
Molly Bochanyin
Periphery–
Jeff Hoyt
The Times-Delphic–
editor-in-chief Kristen Smith
business manager Kaila Swain