Renovation Ahead for our Newsrooms

The Williams Center on the Statesboro campus and the Memorial College Center on the Armstrong campus will undergo about a year of renovation starting this summer. Our staffs will be in temporary quarters in the meantime, (locations TBA). When we return, we’ll be in dramatically different surroundings with new furniture and amenities.

We’d like to feature your photos of the student newsroom where your worked in the next alumni newsletter. Include the year (or your best guess) and your photos!

Start Spreading the News

For the first time since 2019, it appears GAMG students will be able to attend the National College Media Convention in person! The next convention will be March 9-12 at the New York Marriott Marquis (Times Square area). We can afford it thanks in part to donations to past fund drives from alumni.

During our last New York visit, our students had a great meeting with some New York-based alumni. We’d love to do it again. So if you might be able meet up with us during the conference, please email David Simpson at dsimpson@georgiasouthern.edu

Congratulations are in Order

Congratulations to Lauren Sabia, who was named by the Executive Board as editor-in-chief of The George-Anne Reflector Division for this spring 2022 semester. She fills the expired term of Alexis Hamilton, who graduated in December 2021.

Lauren was a photographer for the Creative Division from August 2018 to March 2020. She was Reflector campus editor August 2021 to December 2021. In her application, she wrote, "I see the mission of the Reflector being to unite members of the GSU community together over topics they can find common ground on, as well as featuring the places, individuals, or groups that represent said community".

"I'm so excited to serve The Reflector in this way for the next semester, and to be able to continue growing and reaching more of the Georgia Southern community. I'm looking forward to continuing the great ideas that Alexis started this past semester, as well as growing our social media more to get all of our stories to be interacted with."

-Lauren Sabia

Alum on the Move:

Charles Minshew (‘11) is now digital storytelling editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, leading a new team of digital presentation and data specialists. He previously was director of data services for IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) and NICAR.

The answer: 1.25 million. 

The question: How many times did someone interact with a George-Anne Media Group digital product in the fall 2021 semester?

The breakdown:

• Thegeorgeanne.com: 205,071 pageviews
• Newsletters: 1.05 million opens

Details about student use of the email newsletters:

• 15,906 students opened at least once
• Students opened 682,500 times*

*65% of total 1.05 million. Spot checks of daily opens show 65% of total opens are by students.

The survey says …

Thanks to cooperation from the Office of Institutional Research, we sent a survey to every email address at Georgia Southern in November 2021 to measure media consumption. We offered a gift card drawing, so we got a lot of responses, including more than 1,300 students.

Not surprisingly, we found that email newsletters are now the most consumed George-Anne Media Group product. But, print newspapers are still widely read.

Statesboro undergraduates in the last month have read*:

George-Anne Daily email newsletter 46%

George-Anne Statesboro Edition 38%

Armstrong undergraduates in the last month have read*:

The George-Anne Inkwell newsletter 41%

The George-Anne Inkwell Edition 25%

Behind those big numbers are great people

Recent testimonials from two staff members show the kind of students who work here:

"I usually am very shy and slow to open up, but being with the Reflector helped me find myself. Being with people who you can connect with and share something with even outside your division is something hard to find, and I'm glad I found it."

"The George-Anne Inkwell is the first place I felt accepted for who I am and what I can do without long explanations, exceptions or caveats, so it’s hard not to be passionate about it."

So here’s a shout-out to our fall 2021 staff!

Fall 2021 Student Executives