Student Spotlight: Kathy Adams

Story by Emily Wilkinson

As the newly appointed managing editor of The Daily Texan, Kathy Adams says she most enjoys the mentorship it allows her to share with her staff. A veteran of the university's newspaper, Adams has been involved with The Daily Texan for six semesters since she was a freshman at the University of Texas.

"I really like mentoring the other reporters, helping them improve their reporting, and their writing and having that relationship with the reporter. I like helping them become better journalists. We're like a big family here," said Adams.

According to Adams, the application to be managing editor of The Daily Texan is not an easy task. The applicant has to have worked at The Daily Texan for a number of semesters, taken the Media Law and Ethics class, worked in at least two departments and served as department head in at least one department. After all the other necessary qualifications are met, the Student Texas Publication Board votes and decides who best fits this position.

"It's not a terribly long process but you have to prove that you know the Texan and that you have good news judgment because you're in charge of everything that goes into the paper so the board really wants to make sure that you're qualified," said Adams.

Tucked away underground in the CMC building, Adams' cozy office greets you with the week's front pages of The Daily Texan pinned on her bulletin board. Her workplace is strewn with papers, a coffee pot sits on the corner and though she apologizes for the mess, it really is quite orderly for someone who works till 2 a.m. most weekdays.

"Every day at 4 p.m. we have our budget meeting which is when we decide what's going to go in the paper, where it'll go, how long it'll be and what types of things need to be included in the story being worked on," said Adams. " And after that meeting I have to be here to enforce deadlines, help make sure everything is running smoothly, make sure we have all of our positions filled. And then I read all the proofs to the stories, making sure we're not libeling anyone, making sure they meet ethical journalistic standards, making sure the headlines fit, making sure the art is good and all of the basic journalism requirements are met."

With the busy days and late nights, Adams says that she still makes it to her classes during the week.

"It can be tough sometimes to make it to class, especially the 9:30 classes in the morning, but I try not to miss any class if I don't really have to," said Adams.

According to Adams, the struggle is not so much attending classes but more with trying to get schoolwork done during the weekdays because the work at The Daily Texan takes up the bulk of her time. Her weekends are the only time she has to be able to catch up on homework and her class readings.

Adams not only has to juggle the challenges of keeping up with classes but also learning to be a good manager and encourage her staff to produce work that fits into her vision for the newspaper.

"The hardest thing about being managing editor is that you have to encourage the staff to produce the work that you want, to the standards and quality that you want without micromanaging them, without nagging them and that can be difficult to do especially when they are students and they have these other factors in their lives other than working at The Daily Texan," said Adams.

However, Adams says that she is lucky to have good department heads because she trusts them well enough to run the department the way they need to be able to produce good content.

Adams appointment as managing editor may only last this spring because this hardworking senior has already made plans for this summer. Recently accepted into the Chips Quinn Scholars program, Adams will be interning this summer with The News Journal in Newcastle, Delaware.

"It's a pretty good program and a lot of the Daily Texan alums have gone through it," said Adams. "I was excited to be selected and it was nice to have the burden of finding an internship off my shoulders for the summer."

The Chips Quinn Scholars is a program that offers minority journalism students professional training in journalism by veterans in this field. Their aim, according to their website, is to "provide special support and encouragement that will open doors to news careers and bring greater diversity to the nation's daily newspaper newsrooms."

The program is named after John "Chips" Quinn, Jr. who was the editor of the Poughkeepsie (N.Y) Journal. After his tragic death in an automobile accident in 1990, his parents decided to honor him with a memorial that started this minority internship for journalism students. The program started in 1991 with six students and has since grown to over a thousand student participants today.

Adams is planning to graduate in spring of 2008. She hopes to get a job at a major national newspaper. Her dream job would be to land one at The Washington Post but Adams says that it is usually not a job one gets as a fresh graduate from college.

Wherever she ends up reporting, Adams says that she would like to cover either business news or the Latino community and immigration issues. Overall, Adams says that she would like to remain involved in news coverage that actually makes an impact on people's lives.