We hope you are enjoying the new UMRA e-Newsletter. Feedback has been mixed depending mostly on preferences for print or web-based news. We value your input as we refine and upgrade UMRA’s communications.

Why did we do this? In January 2017, when the Communications Taskforce was meeting to discuss how to better our communications, Ginny Hanson, UMRA’s long-standing newsletter editor, announced that a newly discovered health issue could interfere with her producing the newsletter as she had been for the past 13 years. The taskforce decided that this change opened the way to try developing a new form of communication – electronic news.

“Being the only editor for content and production is rewarding, but it is somewhat precarious for the organization to rely on one person for this position,” Ginny said. “A team is more prudent.”

So the new newsletter team consists of Ginny Hanson, as coordinator, and an assembled team of content editors who solicit and edit articles. The volunteer content editors are Becky Anderson, Kris Mortensen, and Julie Medberry. The edited content goes to the new production editor, Sadie Brendalen, who is working under contract with UMRA to produce the UMRA e-newsletter, interface the news with the web page, and also produce a printable newsletter. A full-time employee at the U of M, Sadie is the communications and program associate in the Department of Applied Economics and currently pursuing her master’s degree in Strategic Communications. UMRA member Cathy Gierke manages the UMRA website and works closely with the production editor.

Thanks to the determination and diligence of the new content editorial team, our webmaster, and a new professional production editor, we now have an e-newsletter and print version newsletter. This was no small feat, but the team performed what some called a transition, others called a summer miracle. They should be congratulated for this extraordinary effort and a polished result.

—Jean Kinsey, chair, Communications Taskforce
Task Force Members: Ginny Hanson, Dave Naumann, Cathy Lee Gierke, John Anderson, with advice from Scott Elton, Julie Medbery, and Sadie Brendalen