Departures and Hirings
Cheryl E. Ball, Editor
To conclude this Logging On column, I’d like to remark that if Kairos is consistent at one thing besides publishing great scholarship, it does so while always being in transition. Sections change as do staff members. The last few months have presented a particularly difficult transition for the journal because it lost two editors who have been on staff a very long time: James Inman and Beth Hewett. James, who joined Kairos in 1998 with Issue 3.2 as News Editor, stepped down as Senior Co-Editor in February to pursue other commitments. Beth, who joined in 2001 as CoverWeb Co-Editor, stepped down as Co-Editor in May. I’ve said my goodbyes to them privately, but have to say that after seven years working closely with Beth, I would take another seven years any day, but I know that, eventually, we all have new projects that call our names. Thankfully, our working relationship became a friendship that I cherish. Beth sends this message to our readers:
In the seven years that I’ve worked for Kairos, first as CoverWeb co-editor and more recently as journal co-editor, I’ve been proud to be a part of this enterprise. Readers may not realize that this journal works strictly as a digital collaboration. For my part, I have met few of my colleagues in face-to-face settings. Rather than just talking about collaboration as an ideal of rhetoric and communication, Kairos practices it daily—and successfully. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with Kairos and to participate in its development through the years. My special thanks for these productive years go to James Inman and Doug Eyman for bringing me onboard and for choosing Cheryl Ball as my co-editor. I have been exceedingly lucky to work with such talented scholars and editors. I look forward to continuing our professional collaboration and friendship over the upcoming years.
I have to thank Beth and James for the instrumental roles they played in my own work with Kairos. It was James, along with Doug, who brought me into the Kairos fold as a reader, author, and, later, an editor, and who provided guidance to Beth and myself as new editors who didn’t always know what to do when we were beginning. And, among her other Kairos feats, it was Beth who transformed our collaborative communication practices in productive ways, devised an interview and mentoring process for new assistant editors, pushed for the author mentoring process we have now, suggested the new Inventio and Disputatio sections as ways to involve different reader and author constituencies, and generally acted as a sounding board and a much-needed foil for my hare-brained ideas. The journal will miss both of you, Beth and James. Good luck in your future endeavors!
In happier transitions, I am pleased to announce that Alexis Hart, an Interviews assistant editor since 2005, has agreed to step into the role of Interviews Co-Editor (with Peg Strain). Congratulations! In addition to promoting Alexis, we will be HIRING (in caps, for all of those who have asked about working for the journal over the last year or so… ). We are looking to fill the following positions:
Finally, as always, we welcome submissions and feedback. Please email me at kairosed@technorhetoric.net with questions, comments, and submissions.
Best,
Cheryl
