Starting May 5, the Minnesota Daily will have several new faces joining its staff.
The Minnesota Daily Commission has announced that Spencer White, the Daily's current opinion desk editor, will become the Daily's new editor-in-chief (EIC) for the 2024-25 school year, and Destanie Ulrich, Marketing Copyright Officer announced that he will be the new head of marketing and engagement. .
Spencer White: Editor-in-Chief
Mr. White began his career at the Daily in 2022 as an opinion columnist and was promoted to opinion editor during the 2023-2024 academic year.
In his new role as EIC, White hopes to foster a strong culture among Daly's employees through more direct interactions, such as in-person workshops and Daly's internal events.
“I want to maintain and grow it.” [a culture] At Dairy, where people are in the office, people are excited about each other and working at Dairy,” White said.
White also wants to strengthen the Daily's community engagement efforts on campus, including further efforts to emphasize the campus community and expanding the Daily's Content Diversity Committee.
“We are a news organization,” White said. “We need to connect with our communities, and we need to do so in ways that highlight voices that aren’t usually heard.”
Following the decision, Mr. White said he was honored to be chosen from among four candidates for Daly's employees to become the next EIC.
“It could be one of us,” White said. “I am truly honored. This is a facility that is very important to me.”
Brady Gervais, chairman of Dairy's board of directors, said he is excited about White's commitment to furthering Dairy's culture.
“We believe Mr. Spencer's passion and experience in a variety of journalistic roles will have a positive impact on the Daily's future development,” Gervais said.
Destanee Ulrich: Marketing and Engagement Officer
Mr. Ulrich joined Daly in 2023 as a marketing assistant and was appointed head of marketing copyright in August 2023.
She hopes to build stronger relationships and strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the Daily's internal departments and through student groups and departments at the University of Minnesota.
Ulrich is currently planning a First Amendment event to be held this September.
“I want to be intentional about having introductory meetings with organizations and reaching out to these groups because there are so many multicultural groups out there.”
Ulrich, who is double majoring in English and strategic communications, said she is not familiar with journalism but is willing to learn about it in order to foster community among the Daily's staff.
“I would like to meet with the editor-in-chief who is in training and discuss the breakdown with the editorial department, copy desk and reporters,” Ulrich said. “When you get into these leadership positions and have them interact with business and management leaders, everyone is like, 'Oh my gosh, I know who this desk editor is.'”
