Correction appended: March 20, 2013.
The Collegian Inc. Board of Directors selected Brittany Horn as the newspaper’s editor in chief and Anjali Krishnan as its business manager for the 2013-14 academic year during a meeting Tuesday night.
Horn (junior-journalism) currently serves as the Collegian’s assistant news editor and will replace Editor in Chief Casey McDermott (senior-journalism and sociology). Current magazine editor Joshua Glossner (junior-journalism) also applied for the editor position.
This marks the fifth consecutive year that a woman was selected as editor.
Krishnan (sophomore-accounting and international politics) is a Collegian sales manager and will replace current business manager Ruby Yip (junior-marketing). Krishnan was unopposed.
All candidates submitted leadership proposals to the board days prior to the three-hour interview and deliberation process on Tuesday.
Associate Head of the Penn State College of Communications Department of Journalism Russ Eshleman, who leads the Collegian Board of Directors, said “it’s going to be a difficult year” for both Horn and Krishnan given the current state of the newspaper industry.
But Eshleman, who has taught Horn in class, said she has the experience and “the enthusiasm in a forward-looking way” to move the Collegian in a positive direction.
Horn’s proposal cited her desire to create positive morale in the newsroom with open communication.
Eshleman said the board was impressed with Horn’s plan to pull the staff together and to work as a team.
McDermott shared the sentiment, telling the staff that Horn has always been like a “mom” to the newsroom.
“I think Brittany will distinguish herself as a role model,” McDermott said.
Horn called the selection “surreal” and said she dreamed of this moment since she first set foot in the newsroom.
“I’m excited to see what the future holds. I think we have a really incredible staff,” Horn said.
Krishnan said she similarly always saw herself in a top leadership position at the Collegian and is looking forward to a new Collegian website that will be launched in upcoming months, which could help increase ad sales.
“I’m really excited for the website and how we are going to utilize that,” Krishnan said.
Current business manager Yip said as she steps down from her position, she is looking forward to seeing Krishnan take on a leadership position next semester.
“She is hands down the most qualified current staff member we have for the position,’ Yip said.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the year for which The Daily Collegian's new executives were chosen in its headline. The new editor and business manager will serve in the 2013-14 academic year. The Daily Collegian apologizes for this error.
