New staff steps up at the IC this season

Finals are getting closer and closer, and this is the time student organizations elect new officers. At The Independent Collegian, we also welcome new leaders.

After seven months on the news desk, and three of those as the senior news editor, Jessica Harker took the reins of the editorial department as the 2016-17 editor-in-chief. Harker is a second-year communication major. She said the transition gave her a new outlook on the newsroom.

“It’s very different than the news desk. The amount of responsibility shifts between focusing on the short term to more focusing on the long term,” she said. “I am really grateful for this opportunity.”

Since Harker moved up from the news desk, we had a vacancy there, and Community Editor Joe Heidenescher agreed to fill in during the interim. Heidenescher graduated in December 2015 with a bachelor of art degree in English.

“As a recent UT graduate, I am working on easing my way out of the IC,” Heidenescher said. “I’ve worked in so many positions around this office, I have no problem helping out serving as interim news editor until the end of the year. Hopefully we will train someone as awesome as Jessica has been.”

Stepping into the big shoes left by Heidenescher’s transfer, Emily Schnipke has moved up to the senior community editor position after serving for five months as the associate editor.

After Abigail Sullivan stepped down from the director of photography position in February for personal reasons, Savannah Joslin moved into senior directorship.

“Being D.O.P. is overwhelming but definitely worth it,” Joslin said.

Our sports department will completely cycle through a new staff at the end of this publishing year as Sports Editor Marcus Dodson and Assoc. Sports Editor Jenna Nance leave the IC after this semester.

Our copy desk will also undergo a complete shift as Lauren Gilbert joins our force of writers and Jared Hightower prepares to finish up summer classes and graduate this August with a bachelor of art degree in communication.

We also say a heartfelt good-bye to General Manager Danielle Gamble, who served the IC for almost five years since Summer 2011 as copy editor, copy chief, news editor, editor-in-chief and general manager. Gamble graduated in Spring 2014 with a bachelor of art degree in music. She left the IC to pursue a career at a professional newspaper in upstate New York.

“I feel like I’ve been very lucky to have worked with such awesome people, and it’s been a privilege to be with an institution this long that pursues its mission so avidly,” she said.

Haley Schmucker, who has served for the last three years on the IC Board of Directors, has taken Gamble’s position. She worked in several editor positions during her time as a University of Toledo student. She also served as the editor-in-chief. She graduated in December 1990 with a bachelor of art degree in communication.

Gamble said she is excited about Schmucker’s taking the position.

“She has always been a wonderful advocate of the paper and an incredible resource to us, so I am just so excited that she gets to work closer with the students,” Gamble said. “I think she’s going to do a bang-up job.”

Schmucker said she is excited to be “working with students again, being on campus and working with people who are excited about UT, excited about the community.”

For the upcoming school year, Schmucker said her goals are to focus on readership and student-centeredness while training the new staff. Schmucker said education is one of the biggest benefits for the students who work at the paper.

“This is such a great learning experience, for all aspects of any student that’s at the university — business, design, editing, writing, copy writing, all those kinds of things,” Schmucker said.

The business staff has had several position changes as well. Kyle Colvin will ensure your newspapers are delivered on time as the distribution manager. Roderick Perkins will keep our accounts balanced as operations manager. Mohammed Noureldin will manage our sponsorships as the advertising director.

Colvin is working with outgoing distribution manager Megan Gaysunas to ensure a smooth transition while Perkins is working with outgoing operations manager Andrew Rassel. Noureldin has fully transitioned into his new role.

Gamble said she is positive the business staff will do well in the coming semesters.

“The business side of a newspaper rarely gets the recognition it deserves, I am very pleased that we have such a strong team that’s going to serve as the backbone of this paper next year,” she said.