How long has Johns Hopkins Magazine been around?
The first issue of Johns Hopkins Magazine landed in readers’ mailboxes in 1950, marking the birth of a new kind of magazine. Published for the graduates, faculty, and friends of a leading university, it was conceived to give readers intellectual nourishment, and over the years has featured thought-provoking and sometimes controversial articles on topics ranging from particle physics to student unrest. The magazine’s founding editor was alumnus Corbin Gwaltney, who was also the founding editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Who receives Johns Hopkins Magazine?
The magazine mails to over 120,000 people four times each year. Johns Hopkins alumni comprise about 75 percent of that total. The remaining 25 percent includes faculty, senior staff, parents of current students, and friends (i.e., donors) of the university. All of these readers receive the magazine free of charge.
Where does the magazine get its funding?
The magazine gets a good portion of its support from the university. In addition, reader donations account for about 20 percent of the overall budget; local and national advertising account for about 15 percent. Subscriptions are available for $20 per year ($25 overseas). For subscription information contact: jhmagazine@jhu.edu.
What makes a good story for Johns Hopkins Magazine?
There needs to be a Hopkins link. Beyond that, there’s no hard-and-fast recipe. We run profiles about alumni doing fascinating things: wildlife ecologists, figurative painters, media moguls. Excerpts from books written by Hopkins authors. In-depth reports on cutting-edge research being done by faculty and students. Historical looks at people and events that shaped Hopkins. News stories about events shaping Hopkins today.
How do you come up with story ideas?
By canvassing the university’s many campuses and divisions: chatting with faculty members, showing up at poetry readings and engineering symposiums, going to alumni events, hanging out with students, and keeping current on the many publications that come out of the university. Some of our best story ideas come from faculty, students, and alumni who pick up the phone or drop us a note.
Do you run contributions from readers and/or freelance writers?
Though the magazine’s freelance budget is limited, we do make some freelance assignments—most often when a writer approaches us with a great idea. (When we come up with a great idea, someone on the staff usually grabs it first.) We also welcome contributions from readers, though it’s prudent to call or write the editor first (cpierre@jhu.edu), with a description of what you have in mind.
CATHERINE PIERRE is editor of Johns Hopkins Magazine and director of the Johns Hopkins University Magazine Group, which provides consulting, editorial, and design services for university and alumni publications. Before coming to Hopkins, she held positions at Baltimore magazine and at the Walters Art Museum, an internationally renowned institution located in Baltimore. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Maryland and a master’s in English literature from Indiana University. She joined the staff of Johns Hopkins Magazine in 2003.
DALE KEIGER is the magazine’s associate editor, as well as associate editor of the Johns Hopkins University Magazine Group. He joined the magazine’s staff in 1992 and covers fine arts, engineering, public health, business, and athletics. A 1976 summa cum laude graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, his work has appeared in many national publications, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Travel & Leisure, BusinessWeek, Connoisseur, and Advertising Age. He has also taught numerous nonfiction writing courses for the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars and is a frequent presenter at writer’s conferences.
Senior writer MICHAEL ANFT covers science and medicine for the magazine. During his 25 years as a journalist, he has covered nonprofit organizations nationwide for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, delved into media and political matters and the arts for Baltimore’s City Paper, written about pop music for The Baltimore Evening Sun, and penned stories on business for Warfield’s. He has also reviewed books for The Washington Post, music for OPTION, and the arts for a host of magazines. He lives in suburban Baltimore with his wife and two children.
Since earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Johns Hopkins University, BRET McCABE has written about music and film for The Met magazine in Dallas, visual art in Texas’ ArtLies, arts and culture for the Baltimore City Paper, pop music for the New York Sun, and a small handful of other newspapers, magazines, and websites. He joined Johns Hopkins Magazine as the senior humanities writer in 2011.
KRISTEN INTLEKOFER is assistant editor at both the magazine and the Johns Hopkins University Magazine Group. Before joining the magazine staff in 2011, Kristen worked as a textbook editor and writer for Words & Numbers, a content-development company based in Baltimore. Kristen obtained her bachelor’s in English literature from the University of Maryland.
A native of Israel, art director SHAUL TSEMACH earned an MFA at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem in 1984. His studies were supported in part through the Sharett Scholarship, one of Israel’s most prestigious arts awards. After graduating he worked as an art director for Ma’ariv, one of Israel’s major daily newspapers, where he developed a weekly Style supplement and a monthly House and Garden magazine supplement. Shaul moved to the United States and joined Johns Hopkins’s Office of Design and Publications as a graphic designer in 1986; he became art director of Johns Hopkins Magazine six years later. Over the years he has earned several awards from CASE, and his work has been featured in PRINT magazine and in the UCDA’s annual show.
PAM LI, art director for the Johns Hopkins University Magazine Group, is a contributing designer for Johns Hopkins Magazine. Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins, she was an art director with Waldinger Birch Inc., a marketing and communications firm. Prior to that she was a freelance designer for six years. Pam holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
DIANNE MACLEOD is the magazine’s business manager. She started her career as a court stenographer at the First Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., during the Watergate appeals. She worked on Capitol Hill as the executive assistant and business manager to four directors of the National Association of Manufacturers. Moving to Maryland, she joined the vice president of marketing on a media research project for the international media/marketing and research firm Arbitron. In Baltimore, she was the executive assistant to the associate director of curatorial affairs and assistant director of the Walters Art Museum before coming to Hopkins. Having worked for the Division of Communications and Public Affairs for 20 years, Dianne has held different positions, including business manager of the university’s now defunct public radio station, WJHU. She now manages day-to-day business within the Government, Community and Public Affairs division, where Johns Hopkins Magazine resides. She majored in mass communications at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and business management at Johns Hopkins University.
