Don’t waste highly valuable print real estate. Every month, I pick up a few new magazines from the newsstand to see what kind of stories they’re doing, what unique approaches they’re taking, and what I can learn from them. But when I picked up a copy of REI’s Uncommon Path magazine — a beautiful and […]
Today I’m excited to explore one piece of “common knowledge” about profile writing that is 100 percent wrong for higher ed communicators. I’ll start the story in one of my favorite places: writers and editors conferences. When I was younger, my favorite part of these conferences were the keynote talks. Amazing writers — Susan Orlean, Jacqui Banaszynski, Malcolm […]
Recently, I’ve been reading a *lot* of profiles about incoming college presidents, chancellors, and heads of schools. I have plenty of opinions on these profiles, but they could generally be summed up this way. These new leaders are clear-eyed about the challenges their schools face! They’re ready to listen to their constituents! They’re excited to […]
When I was an editor at an alumni magazine, one of the most frustrating experiences I dealt with was never knowing whether or not the brilliant story idea I had was going to resonate with readers. Would a story generate lots of congratulations, letters, and other feedback? Or would it barely create a ripple? The […]
Today, I want to focus on the tools I use to help track everything from emails to story ideas to my to-do list. If you’ve been struggling with any of these challenges, these are my best recommendations. Track daily to-dos and deeeeep thoughts with these notebooks and pens. I’m picky about my notebooks […]
The school year is just starting to ramp up for many of us, and the slower pace of summer is all but done. I know you’re busy! So let’s get straight to it. Here’s what my team and I have been up to: Schools love to perform well on all of those high stakes rankings, […]
The other day, I was listening to an interview podcast on a run, and the guest said something that literally stopped me in my tracks. She was talking about her background, and she paused over her college education. Here’s what she said: “I think I got a pretty nice education at [my university]. It wasn’t […]
One of my favorite things to do every year is talk to the winner of the Sibley Magazine of the Year. This year, I was thrilled to talk to Maria Henson, who is editor of the knockout Wake Forest Magazine, a three-times a year publication for alumni. Henson, a 1982 Wake Forest alum, has been at the […]
We’ve had a busy summer here at Capstone HQ, but we took some time to put together an update with what we’ve been up to. Enjoy! First, here are a few stories the Capstone team has worked on: Here’s a Kent State alum who built a tie business with his young son in mind. What […]
As a former class notes editor, I couldn’t possibly be more excited to share this interview and some incredible resources with you. Here’s the scoop: Many years ago, I served as the class notes editor for an alumni magazine. It was grueling, thankless work. I carefully transcribed cursive notes from alumni who were 3,000 years […]