We on the Reporter team were recently gifted a box of vintage editions of the university’s newsletter that were tucked away in a retired staff member’s office. The issues from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s date back to a time when the Reporter came to faculty and staff on a single-folded tabloid-size sheet of actual paper. The format might seem a little quaint now, but with stories on nearly every inch of printable space — front and back — it was a model of how to do more with less.
The tour of the old issues gave us some fresh perspective on how we think of the work that goes into today’s Reporter. First, it left us thinking that when viewed as a cumulative effort, this longstanding UM-Dearborn newsletter amounts to a fairly detailed archive of much of the university's history. Given our usual focus on the week’s news, we hadn’t really thought of the Reporter’s complete lifespan, but it’s a feature we consider pretty valuable.
It’s also obvious to us that while the core mission of sharing important news and information with faculty and staff is the same, the Reporter has clearly adapted to the times. The most palpable difference is that the newsletter is now an e-newsletter. But we also noticed today’s Reporter is more conversational, has more in-depth reads, uses much more photography (and other multimedia) — all things we hope you’ve been enjoying.
This summer, we’ve been thinking again about how we can update this important UM-Dearborn faculty-staff publication, and we’re excited to share a couple of changes coming to the Reporter for the 2019-2020 academic year. Most notably, you’ll now be getting two issues a week — one on Tuesday and one on Thursday — instead of your usual single Monday e-newsletter. You’ll also notice that each issue is shorter. Our hope is that a more curated lineup of stories, event listings, news and announcements delivered in two small doses will make it easier to stay up to date on all the important things shaping the university. Think of it like eating two smaller meals and enjoying every bite instead of having a much larger meal that’s challenging to finish in one sitting.
This year, we’re also using the newsletter to experiment with different ways of sharing things we think you’ll enjoy. For example, our friends at the Mardigian Library recently shared a box of photos that amount to a time machine back to UM-Dearborn in the 1970s and 1980s. Throughout September, look for some of our favorites in each issue of the Reporter. It’s a fun and easy way for all of us to reflect on the university’s 60th anniversary.
Most of the changes you’ll notice are based on things we heard from you, our readers, during a recent survey, and we appreciate your feedback. Going forward, keep sending us your thoughts. We want to hear from you about what you’re enjoying, what you think needs further tweaking, and as always — what you think we should be writing about. Hopefully, you just thought of an idea. If so, take a minute to send it our way.
Above all we want the Reporter to be useful to you, whether you like reading about leading-edge research or finding out what events are happening this week. We look forward to being your source for all of that — now twice as often.
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If you have events, announcements or feedback you'd like to share with the Reporter team, drop us a line at [email protected].
