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A Fresh Look

What's changed—and what hasn't What's changed—and what hasn't We hope you've noticed that this issue of Cornell Alumni Magazine looks a bit different. And you may wonder: why? Magazines are redesigned for many reasons, ranging from the trivial (the publisher is bored) to the profound (a complete shift in the subject matter). Neither applies in […]

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What's changed—and what hasn't

What's changed—and what hasn't

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We hope you've noticed that this issue of Cornell Alumni Magazine looks a bit different. And you may wonder: why? Magazines are redesigned for many reasons, ranging from the trivial (the publisher is bored) to the profound (a complete shift in the subject matter). Neither applies in this case. We were motivated, rather, by a desire to serve you— the reader—better. So as we considered options for graphics, layout, and organization, we kept asking ourselves if this was going to make CAM a more effective and more reader-friendly publication. I hope we've answered in the affirmative—and if we haven't, please tell me (jhr22@cornell.edu).

page thumbnailMost of what you've come to expect is still here, and most of it is still in the same place. We've moved a few things, like the photo spread that used to open Class Notes, which seemed like an odd place for it; that's now in the front section, to welcome you to each issue (unless you're one of those contrarians who read back to front). To address the time pressure that all of us seem to feel these days, we've tried to pack even more campus news into From the Hill while also making it easier to read. And many of our longer pieces will be broken into smaller components, so you can grasp the subject matter even if you don't read every word.

But rest assured—we're not abandoning the kind of thorough, well-researched feature writing that has long been a hallmark of this magazine. When there's a big story, we will give it the space it deserves.

'Magazines are redesigned for many reasons. We were motivated by a desire to serve you—the reader— better.'

There's another reason why we've redesigned: to coordinate with and complement what will soon be an all-new website. Since its launch more than a decade ago, our website has been a modest "sampler" of each issue, offering some, but not all, of the content of the print magazine with little in the way of online enhancements. That's changing. Very soon, that outdated "placeholder" site will be replaced by an entirely new site that will offer all of the content of the print publication—and more. Our goal in doing this is to make the new CAM Online your best source for news about Cornell, the place where you can link to a wide variety of news and commentary sources, official and unofficial, as well as read additional material written by our staff, interns, and other contributors. This has taken months of work and would not have been possible without a generous subsidy from the Cornell administration. Most of the heavy lifting was done by our Web contractor, One Bad Ant Design & Development (onebadant.com), as well as our art director, Steffi Green, and production associate, Lisa Frank. When the new website is launched, we'll be sending a broadcast e-mail to Cornell alumni, so stay tuned.

As we enter this brave new world of integrated print and online communication, I want to emphasize that there's one thing that is not changing: our commitment to the mission spelled out by the founders of the Cornell Alumni News in 1899. This publication, they wrote, would always strive "to keep the alumni accurately informed concerning the attitude of the University body, students, and faculty toward the various questions of University policy . . . [and] to keep the alumni informed as fully and accurately as possible about the whereabouts and doings of Cornell men and women, and thus not only to foster the interest in classmates and Alma Mater, but also to increase the enthusiasm and loyalty of every Cornellian for the college on the hill."

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