| Vanderbilt alumnus Paul Kingsbury has joined the Media Relations Division
as senior editor and editor-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Register, the weekly newspaper of
the Vanderbilt community. Kingsbury succeeds Jamie Lawson Reeves, who has served as
Register editor since 1995 and will become a public affairs officer in the News Service.  "Paul is one of the most talented and respected editors in
Nashville," said Vice Chancellor for Media Relations Michael Schoenfeld. "He
brings to an already excellent newspaper a new level of quality that will keep the campus
community informed about Vanderbilt's many ideas and activities."
A noted authority on country music, Kingsbury was most recently editor of the Journal
of Country Music, published by the Country Music Foundation.
He is the author of "The Grand Ole Opry History of Country Music" and the
editor of several books, including "The Country Reader," and has worked
closely with the Vanderbilt University Press on its acclaimed country music series.
Kingsbury's latest project, "The Encyclopedia of Country Music," will be the
most comprehensive scholarly reference book on the genre. It will be published in 1998 by
Oxford University Press. Before joining the Country Music Foundation, Kingsbury was a
writer and editor for Vanderbilt's alumni publications. He is a frequent contributor to
national publications, including Entertainment Weekly, US and CD Review, and has written
album liner notes for such artists as Patsy Cline and George Strait.
"It's an exciting time to be back at the University," said Kingsbury.
"Vanderbilt has clearly emerged as one of the premier research universities in the
country, and I look forward to working with Mike Schoenfeld's team to tell Vanderbilt's
ongoing story in ways that do justice to the important efforts here."
"Over the next several months, the Register will introduce a number of new
editorial and design features that will reflect the University's dynamic educational,
research and patient care missions," said Schoenfeld.
"We will increase coverage of faculty research and will offer in-depth articles on
significant national issues in higher education and their impact on Vanderbilt."
With a weekly circulation of nearly 15,000, the Register is one of the largest
publications in the Nashville area. In the past year, the Register has expanded to include
Register OnLine, the World Wide Web version of the newspaper, and Register Express, a free
e-mail digest with several hundred subscribers around the world.
Goodbye, but not really
I got an early Christmas present in 1991: I got a job.
A December graduate of Western Kentucky University, I was fresh out of journalism
school and ready to embark on my communications career in Nashville. I joined Vanderbilt
University's Office of News and Public Affairs as an editorial assistant, pen poised and
my trusty AP Stylebook by my side. I had no idea I'd leave one college campus for another,
but I'd had too many interviews with editors of weekly newspapers in towns where barns
outnumbered houses (OK, I had two of these but that was two too many!)
It was a bit of an adjustment to make from university student to university employee
but in no time I was immersed in the working world and happy to be receiving a paycheck
and fighting for a parking place. I've seen many changes to the Register in six years. I
came on board just as the Register staff began using computers to lay out the publication.
Now technology enables us to expand the Register's audience from the campus and local
community to the world via the Internet. Subscribers to an e-mail version receive advance
news from the upcoming issue before it hits the stands on Mondays. In its many forms, the
Register continues to be the best central vehicle of communication on the Vanderbilt
campus.
This month I'm hanging up my editor's hat -- or more accurately, handing it over -- to
Paul Kingsbury, an alumnus who joins us from the Country Music Foundation. His writing and
editing expertise and knowledge of campus are wonderful additions to our staff and the
University.
I'm continuing my career at Vanderbilt handling media relations in the News Service.
Conquering typos with a fine-point red pen, covering campus events, taking thousands of
telephone calls, scanning the Bulletin Board for good deals, collecting take-out menus for
those late production nights and writing hundreds of articles -- it has been an editorial
adventure in the world of academe.
Now I'm venturing down a new avenue in my career and I'm on my second AP Stylebook. I'm
looking forward to meeting new challenges at Vanderbilt.
-- Jamie Lawson Reeves
|
