Dear Readers:
This is my last letter to you. I have enjoyed my brief stint as acting editor. And I have certainly acquired a huge respect for magazine editors everywhere. To be good at it, you need an unusual combination of skills: an almost obsessive grasp of details and, simultaneously, the ability to envision the big picture and how each of the myriad small puzzle pieces fits.
The University has hired a new managing editor. His name is Steven Saum, and, by the time you read this, he will be at his desk here in Donohoe. He comes to SCU from the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, where he was the editor in chief. Steven has more than 15 years of writing and editing experience with publications for universities, nonprofits, and government in the U.S. and internationally.
Other changes are in the works. Beth Kelley Gillogly ’93, who has worked on the magazine in various capacities for the last six years, will no longer be with us. I want to thank her for all the photo captions she wrote, all of her careful editing, all the interviews she conducted, all the interesting features she proposed and created, and generally for all the care she lavished on the magazine.
Starting with our August issue, Ron Hansen will be joining us as the literary editor. Ron is the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., Professor of Arts and Humanities at SCU. He teaches English and, as many of you know, is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Mariette in Ecstasy, Atticus, and Hitler’s Niece. Ron also writes extensively about the relationship of art to faith. (A nice sample is Ron’s essay on the Spiritual Exercises.) Ron will be tapping into his considerable literary network to bring new voices to the magazine.
I believe Santa Clara Magazine is already a showcase for the spiritual and intellectual richness of the University community. And I am looking forward to seeing what the publication becomes in the capable hands of Steven and Ron.
It has been a pleasure.
Warm regards,
Margaret Avritt, Acting Editor