On the cover of the print version of this issue of Endeavors, music professor Mark Katz holds Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Photo by Steve Exum; ©2007 Endeavors. Click to enlarge.
From the Editor.
by Neil Caudle
This issue of Endeavors has more stories than usual. This didn’t happen because of a marketing plan, or a readership survey, or a focus group, or a windfall of funding and staff. It happened because eight smart students showed up at our office asking to write for Endeavors, and we couldn’t turn them down.
This kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. Very few universities use student writers for their research magazines. Penn State does, and a few others have tried it, but the conventional wisdom has been that students are too much trouble, that a magazine runs smoother if all of its writers are pros. Well, we just flat disagree. Whatever trouble our students have caused us, they’re worth it. They learn fast. They bring a fresh view to a story. They’re a whole lot of fun to have around. And it just so happens that we’re in the education business here at UNC.
To print the extra stories, we needed help from our publisher, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development. We got it. We also needed help from the UNC General Alumni Association, which provides about two-thirds of our distribution. We got that, too. So this issue’s extra stories signify that this university didn’t miss a chance to give some of its talented students an opportunity to shine. And we think you’ll find they were worth the investment.
