Two colleagues are leaving us, heading off into well-earned retirements. Professor Patricia Thomas and I started the same year. We’ve partnered on many projects, shared many tales of woe over students and I will truly miss her around the building.

Professor Lee Becker is also heading out. As director of the Cox Center for International Journalism, he asked me to talk with visiting journalists from countries around the world. Even asked me to teach in Kazakstan, which I really wanted to do but just couldn’t make work.