Mary Hardin
My fate was sealed in junior high school when Mrs. Norris, my seventh grade social studies teacher, organized the Greens Fork Junior High School News as an extracurricular activity. I’ve written news copy in one form or another pretty much ever since. Well, I may be using the term “news” loosely when rethinking some of the articles I wrote for my high school newspaper and yearbook, but I was at least headed in the right direction.
My career in journalism was not as long-lived as my love for writing and for news and for journalists, who are a special breed of often cynical, curious, intelligent people. Newsrooms in my experience were a place of learning, which is one of the reasons I loved the environment. I suppose it is not surprising that I would eventually land at a university “newsroom.”
After stints at two Indiana daily newspapers, a national magazine, a couple public relations jobs and a dream job as the state editor and bureau chief at United Press International, I joined the staff at the Indiana University News Bureau in Bloomington in 1994. About 14 months later, I was back in Indianapolis working as the media manager for the IU School of Medicine, a position I have loved since day one on the job.
As the media manager, I am responsible for responding to reporters’ inquiries about the school, students, education program and, most frequently, about various medical procedures, drugs, treatments and specialists. I also speak to reporters routinely when there is a newsworthy medical advance invented or performed at the IU medical center. Frequently, our office gets inquiries from the general public seeking a treatment for a disease and we make every attempt to connect them with the appropriate doctor.
Back to the “newsroom,” I get to write news releases and copy for university publications, similar to what I did as a newspaper reporter. And, like reporters worldwide, I am trying to keep up to speed with advancements in communications. I have a Facebook page and Twitter account, I am learning to use a Flipcam to put video on the Web. Some days I feel like I am back in journalism school – which is a good thing because it keeps me intrigued and keeps our news delivery fresh.
Since we have a small office staff, our jobs duties tend to include “other duties as assigned” which can be as inspiring as helping to organizing a news conference for a visit from the Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebulius and NIH Director Francis Collins to as mundane as stapling handouts for a Mini Medical School community program.
And, that’s one of the things I loved about my job as a newspaper reporter and now as a media manager, no day is like any other and each day I get to learn something new. Mrs. Norris was correct, writing is educational.
