FROM THE EDITOR

New Beginnings

It is customary, upon joining a new magazine and crafting your inaugural editor’s letter, to look ahead. The idea is to introduce yourself and to talk a little about your vision for where you hope to take things. I’ll get to that in a bit, but first I’d like to spend a moment looking back.

I’ll admit that when I learned last fall that this publication was in search of a new editor, I knew a lot more about Tufts University, with its world-class academics and its mission to be a force for good, than I did about Tufts Magazine. Actually, I didn’t know much about alumni magazines at all. Could this one be a happy professional home for someone who’d felt privileged over the past two decades to call himself a journalist? It took about fifteen minutes of thumbing through back issues to understand that it absolutely could.

Tufts Magazine, I discovered, overflowed with fine reporting, fascinating ideas, and crisp storytelling. Time and resources were clearly being dedicated to compelling photography and design. In short, I quickly recognized that this was an excellent publication. Plenty of the credit for that goes to people who are still here, but plenty of it goes to someone who is not.

Since taking this job, I have received an almost unbelievable number of notes, emails, and letters from readers, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that my predecessor, David Brittan, essentially created the Tufts Magazine that exists today. And if there’s one thing I’ve heard in all that correspondence, it’s this: “Don’t mess it up!”

I am honored to follow David in the editor’s chair here at the magazine that he did so much to make so good. When I say that, by the way, I mean that I am sitting, quite literally, in the same chair he did, at the same desk. And taking another cue from David, my goal with each issue will be to continue to inform, surprise, and delight you.

Of course, there are also likely some changes ahead, and some of the strategic calibrations that are required of all publications in these fast-changing times. With that in mind, I am pleased to tell you that in the coming months we will unveil a lovely and powerful new website. The site will allow us to present our print magazine in a digital format that is beautiful, simple to use, and easy to share. It will also enable us to publish lots of great web-only stories in between our print issues, bringing you everything you love about Tufts Magazine, only more often.

I am thrilled to be here at Tufts Magazine. I am aware of how important the magazine is to you, our readers. I will work hard not to mess it up.

—JOHN WOLFSON
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
john.wolfson@tufts.edu