Transitioning into a new year

Dear Readers,

For many college students, this time of year is all about transitions -- the transition from the independence of living at school to living with parents again, or perhaps the transition from college life to the real world. For us, it's the transition into our new positions as the executive staff of The Review.

But, our biggest transition is yet to come. This fall, The Review will expand into a seven-days-a-week, multimedia news organization. We've hired a multimedia editor who will focus on adding videos, audio and slideshows to our Web site, udreview.com. In addition, our editors and reporters will work to update the site with the latest campus news throughout the week.

Our focus will not shift away from the print edition, as it is our primary means of reaching our readers and will remain so for the foreseeable future. That said, expanding our Web offerings allows us to distribute information faster and explore subjects more deeply and with different mediums.

The other exciting change will be more opportunities for us to converse with you, our readers. As you may have noticed, The Review recently joined Facebook. Soon, we will be expanding to Twitter as well. In the fall, we plan to hold an open forum where you can come to learn more about how The Review works and tell us how we can serve you better. We will also use this blog and a page in the newspaper to talk with you each week.

From the excitement and passion that swept campus during the election season last fall to the genuine fear that many felt when the swine flu was found at the university, we've shared those moments with you in these pages throughout the year. We look forward to being there with you next year and hope you stick with us as we transition into an exciting new time for The Review.

Faithfully yours,

Josh Shannon, Editor in Chief
Maddie Thomas, Executive Editor

P.S. We would be remiss if we didn't thank our predecessors, Laura Dattaro and Brian Anderson, along with the 17 other staffers who are graduating next week. We've both learned so much from you, and for that we will be forever grateful. As your names take their place alongside those of editors past on the archives shelf at The Review, know that you will always be welcome in our home-away-from-home at 250 Perkins.