By SUSAN JONES

When I started at Pitt in 2018 as the University Times editor, I envisioned the job would be mostly writing stories about what faculty and staff were doing and covering a few meetings. But now as I prepare to retire at the end of September, I realize the job was so much more.

My time at the University of Pittsburgh has been a gift at the end of my nearly 45-year journalism career.

It’s allowed me to find, write and edit stories about the good work happening at Pitt, but also the stories that may not be quite as positive, but about which faculty and staff need to know.

It’s also let me meet some of the most interesting people. I worried when I came here about whether I’d be accepted by all those people with PhDs, especially since my long-ago bachelor’s degree came from that rival school down the road, WVU. But except for one notable exception (who will remain unnamed), everyone I’ve interviewed or interacted with at Pitt has treated me with kindness and respect, even if they didn’t really want to talk to me.

The years I’ve been here have been dense with news, and we’ve been there to keep track of it all — from the COVID pandemic and all the issues associated with it, to faculty and staff unionization, changes in Pitt leadership and the pressures on higher education in the past year and a half.

I came here with the edict to return the University Times to the editorially independent publication it had been for decades before straying from that role in the mid-2010s. I hope I have done that. I know I’ve made people in the administration and in faculty and staff both happy and mad at times, but I can honestly say that no one has ever told me that we couldn’t write about something.

There are few, if any, publications like the UTimes left in higher education, and I think Pitt should be proud of that. It takes a strong and confident university to be comfortable with letting its employees voice their opinions in such a public forum, and to realize that keeping faculty and staff informed about the inner workings of the University can only make it stronger.

I have been reassured by everyone from Chancellor Joan Gabel on down that there are no plans to change the mission of the University Times, which makes me feel more comfortable about leaving this job.

I leave the University Times in the hands of Chuck Staresinic, who will serve as interim editor while a search for a permanent replacement is conducted. Chuck has worked at Pitt for more than 20 years, including as communications director in University Communications and Marketing, speechwriter for the chancellor, writer and editor for Pitt Med Magazine and in communications for Health Sciences. He also has two children currently attending Pitt.

For the next month, Chuck and I will be working together on the September issues of the UTimes, along with the other staff members — Shannon Wells and Marty Levine. If you have story ideas or just want to say hello, please reach out to either or both of us. Chuck can be reached at chuck.s@pitt.edu, and I remain at suejones@pitt.edu.

I never envisioned myself as a small-town newspaper editor, but that really is what the University Times is. Our biweekly newsletter, which links to the utimes.pitt.edu website, goes out via email to more than 22,000 people and almost half of those get opened. We are, I hope, and will continue to be an important source of information for the Pitt community.

You may even see my name pop up sometime next year with an article or two, here and there. But for now, I’m going to relax, travel and enjoy retirement. H2P!

Susan Jones is the soon-to-be-former editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.

Follow the University Times on Facebook.