Kathy Lindsley, left, and Mindy Mozer
Time to say goodbye, hello
By the time you read this, I’ll be out to pasture and a new editor will be tending The University Magazine. That’s why I’m taking over President Destler’s space for this one issue.
When I became editor in August 2000, the magazine was just one year old. A decade later, it is still very young compared to other college magazines. For example, MIT has been publishing Technology Review since 1899. Do the math: They got on this a century before we did.
Still, 11 years seems like a long time and we’ve published 32 issues. We’ve tried very hard to make progress with each one. Certainly we’ve had plenty to tell you: RIT continues to grow, and more than a dozen important buildings have been constructed in the past decade. It’s hard to imagine RIT without the Gordon Field House, for example. The physical transformation of the campus is nothing short of astonishing.
More interesting by far, however, is what’s going on inside all those brick buildings. They’re filled with fascinating people – students, faculty and staff – doing incredible work. It’s been an honor to talk to and write about people such as Bob Snyder ’56, now retired after teaching mechanical engineering for 31 years; Carol Richardson, a long-time professor and administrator in the Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering Technology Department (also retiring this year); Loret Gnivecki Steinberg, photojournalism professor, who keeps us posted about the accomplishments of former students; Mark Baybutt ’07 (computer engineering) and a team of students who converted a 1991 Geo Storm into a driverless vehicle in hopes of competing for a $2 million prize offered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Even though they didn’t make it to the big event, they are big winners in my book – and so representative of what RIT is all about.
And then there are the many, many alumni I’ve met in person, by phone, mail or e-mail. RIT now has more than 106,000 living graduates – and I am convinced that each one has something wonderful to tell us.
So many stories, so little time. Such good memories.
I am absolutely certain that the best is yet to come. Within the next year, you can expect updates to the look and content of the magazine. I am happy to have been involved in laying the groundwork and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
I know the magazine is in good hands. Mindy Mozer, the new editor, served as a local editor at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle for 12 years. Prior to that, Mindy was an assignment editor and reporter at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She has won multiple awards, including Gannett Newsroom Supervisor of the Year. Mindy earned her bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Nebraska.
And here’s an interesting bit: Mindy’s husband, Scott Hauser, is editor of the University of Rochester magazine, Rochester Review.
Mindy was the top candidate out of a pool of nearly 90 applicants from all over the U.S.
It’s no secret: Editing the RIT magazine is a great job. I know how lucky I’ve been to spend the best years of my career doing what I love at a truly extraordinary place.
Thanks RIT! And thanks to all of you for listening.
Kathy Lindsley
kjlcom@rit.edu
You can reach Mindy Mozer at mjmuns@rit.edu.