The Iowa State Daily publication board has selected Alex Connor as the fall 2018 and spring 2019 editor in chief.

K. Rambo and Alex Connor presented to the board Thursday night in hopes to become the next editor in chief. Rambo was selected as the summer 2018 editor in chief over Jill O’Brien, who also presented that evening.

“I’ve worked at this organization for the past three years,” Connor said after the announcement. ”I’m really excited to move from a position of reporting but also serving as an editor to helping lead, helping to build the organization from here.”

Connor’s presentation focused on inclusivity and engagement, with an emphasis on the paper’s community outreach.

She said increasing news literacy through collaborative presentations with other student media is key to keeping the community informed, with the added benefit of increasing readership.

“I thought a lot about how our outreach has increased in the past three years, but also how we can be better,” Connor said.

“I’m hoping to establish [news literacy education] into orientation, or Destination Iowa State, or just inviting it into the ongoing process so that you don’t have to take a journalism class to understand how to interpret the news.”

Rambo, who presented with the hope of becoming the editor in chief for the summer, fall and spring, is still positive about the selection.

“I’m sure she’ll do great,” Rambo said. “I’m looking forward to helping the Daily over the summer.”

With a focus on improving the Iowa State Daily’s digital content through regularly released videos and podcasts, Rambo said he hopes to shift the paper’s emphasis from feature stories to allow for more pieces covering a wider scope.

He went on to explain an important part of increasing readership is improving the diversity of the Daily’s staff to represent more perspectives.

“I think diversity is part of the lens that we need to view how we work,” said Rambo. “I think diversity is part of how we approach our coverage, how we build our staff and how we go about communicating, collaborating and innovating.”

O’Brien, the student life editor who hoped to be selected as editor in chief for the summer, called for Iowa State Daily to focus on the content that matters to its readers.

“The Daily is, in a lot of ways, a community newspaper,” O’Brien said.

“We have relationships with a lot of different areas of people in this community, and we can hone those relationships through special projects. We can come together and come up with engaging and informative content that reaches all people that are in our community, whether that be Iowa State University or Ames.”

O’Brien emphasized the importance of keeping that community connected, even when they’re not physically present on campus. She explained access to information about local business, politics and law enforcement remains relevant to students over the summer because they can have a substantial impact upon their return in the fall.

“Just because school isn’t in session doesn’t mean that students and faculty aren’t getting emails to their CyMail accounts,” O’Brien said. “The e-newsletter should be one of those emails.”