NDAY,JULY 14,2014
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PAGE 11
niversity hires news director
NA CHITANAVONG
@kansan.com
RENA CHITANAVONG/KANSAN
Barcomb-Peterson was recently as the director of news and relations. She graduated from university in May 2001.
at made you interested in taking job at KU?
was a great opportunity to be back to my alma mater and all the benefits of working for flagship University.
at's the biggest difference been K-State and KU?
the biggest difference is trying to see out what each university's use is. I was at K-State for nine days and I knew the type of story is targeting what K-State was at and what they wanted to note. Now, what I need to foon at KU is what those angles for KU and how we can best
it one per person, expires 12/31/2014
promote that and I know those aren't going to be the same.
How was your first week on the job?
It's been going really well. It's nice coming from a similar role and knowing what to expect than if I had come from a different occupation than before.
Is there anything about the department you want to change?
At this point, I'm just learning from all the folks who are here and how they do things. Everything runs really well as it is. I just want to learn how they're doing what they have been because it's been working.
How is student input going to affect the type of stories you put out?
It's always interesting to know the kind of stories that appeal to students when they were choosing KU.A lot of the focus of the Public Affairs office is both to increase KU's stature among other universities and folks across the nation. But also, part of our mission in public affairs is recruitment and it will be interesting what perception the students get of the media that attracted them to KU and capitalize on that.
What's your main focus as the director? I want to maintain what everyone
is doing here and capitalize on that. It's obviously working and it's working very well. It's basically evaluation at this point. KU is great at getting its research and news out there.
What's the biggest difference from when you went to school here compared to now?
The only thing I would notice is the cosmetic differences around campus. When I went to school here Stauffer- Flint was my second home being a J-School student and when I came to interview I went across the street to look at it and the newsroom wasn't there anymore.
Edited by Tom DeHart