New editors announced for Central Michigan Life, Central Review
Eric Dresden, Aaron McMann and Leigh Jajuga have been appointed as the new editors for Central Michigan Life and Central Review by Central Michigan University's media board for the upcoming semesters.
Dresden, current CM Life editor-in-chief and a Merrill senior, was reappointed to the position for the upcoming fall semester, becoming the first student to hold the position for more than a year since 1996.
McMann, a Redford senior, was appointed as CM Life's editor-in-chief for this summer and Jajuga, a Mount Pleasant senior, was named editor-in-chief of Central Review through the 2013 spring semester.
CM Life Adviser Neil Hopp, ex-officio of the nine-person media board, said four editor-in-chiefs have served for more than a year since 1958, so the reappointment was not unprecedented.
"It helps with the continuity of the paper and allows the editor-in-chief to implement further strategies than they could in one year," Hopp said. "Eric, for example, has engineered some typographical changes, updated the website and helped launch mobile applications. So, looking forward to next fall, he will have a great football season to deal with and the national election, and I know he's got other plans to improve the print and online products as well."
Dresden said he hopes to continue the success the paper has had while he has served as editor-in-chief, and said he is confident his staff is "second to none in the state."
"I'm really looking forward to it. There's a lot of things I still hope to do and and I hope to continue a lot of the investigative journalism we've had success with this semester," Dresden said. "I hope we keep getting big stories and following up with big stories, and I think we will."
Dresden said having the ability to learn from some of the newspaper's failures while he served as editor-in-chief will help for his next term.
"I think, after having a year of experience, I've learned a lot," Dresden said. "We had a few failures here and there, but we've also had a lot of success, and I think we can build off that success and have a heck of a year with a lot of big news items coming up in the fall semester."
Three students were also named advertising managers for the 2012-13 year: Allegan senior Becca Baiers, Farmington junior Julie Bushart and Saginaw senior Megan Schneider.
McMann, the summer editor-in-chief for CM Life, said he is ready to lead the paper after working multiple editor positions during his time at the publication.
"I think I'm ready for it. I've been here for three years now," McMann said. "I've been sports editor, university editor and a senior reporter, so I've kind of done it all. I'm ready to lead the paper."
McMann said although news can be slow during the summer, things can pick up. Such was the case in the shooting at The Cabin two summers ago.
"I was here two summers ago when The Cabin shooting happened, so that was kind of a big deal," McMann said. "Obviously, we don't want something like that to happen again, but we'll be ready for big stories if they do happen."
Jajuga, the newly-appointed Central Review editor-in-chief, said she had been looking forward to applying for the position after working as assistant editor for a year.
"It feels great," Jajuga said. "This is something that I’ve always really hoped I could do and something that I’ve always looked forward to having the opportunity to do."
She said she is excited to bring in new editors next year.
"I’m really excited about the designers and bringing on some of the new editors I have in mind," Jajuga said. "I think that we’re going to have a great edition published."
Hopp said there were five applicants for editor-in-chief of Central Review, making the decision difficult for the media board.
"There were five candidates for the editor of Central Review, which is unprecedented. We've never had that many, and all five people were exceptional, so it was a difficult choice," Hopp said. "(Jajuga is) very enthusiastic. She's got a lot of experience and I think she'll bring some great ideas to the magazine"
