At LSBE, she edited faculty’s professional research studies, wrote the LSBE newsletter and website stories, and wrote and edited other communications pieces. At the BBER, she wrote and edited numerous reports and publications and mentored students with their writing.
We asked her a few questions about her time at the BBER. Read her answers below.
Economic research can sometimes feel like a world of dry numbers. How did you see your role in making that data relatable or accessible for the community?
The numbers being presented by the BBER in reports are important, but it can be hard to understand why, especially if the reader has no background in economics. Being an economics layperson myself, it was easy for me to ask as I edited, “so what does this mean?” and then add the answers. As I told the students when I mentored them, frame the text in the terms of “What’s in it for me?” from the readers’ standpoint.
However, over the years, I’ve learned a great deal about economics from BBER Director Monica Haynes.
The Oxford or Serial Comma can be a touchy subject for some editor/writers? What’s your stance?
I am passionate about the Oxford comma. It makes a large difference in the meaning of sentences. There are some well-known examples showing the need for it in sentences. These include “let’s eat grandpa,” meaning grandpa IS the main course and “I invited my parents, Beyoncé and Jay-Z,” meaning my parents are Beyoncé and Jay-Z,
There is also a case where a comma omission cost Oakhurst Dairy $5 million in 2018.
As an editor, what is one grammar mistake or formatting quirk that you’ve spent your career correcting?
I go absolutely nuts when people misuse the word “myself.” Myself is a reflexive pronoun to show that the subject (I) performs the action upon itself. Examples are, “I cut myself while cooking.” “I did the project myself.” When people say, “Please contact Bob or myself,” the word “me,” must be used.
Think about it this way. Separate the sentence into two sentences: Please contact Bob. Please contact myself. Obviously, please contact myself is incorrect. You would say please contact me.
You’ve seen the BBER change a lot over the years. What is the biggest shift you’ve noticed in how we tell our stories?
We’ve gone more in depth, ensuring the client understands the results by looking at the final report from a layperson’s perspective. Most of our reports are published in the U of M Digital Conservancy, so we want to ensure that anyone who reads a report will understand it.
Is there a specific project, report, or article you edited that you’re most proud of? What made it stand out?
I am most proud of those when the client used our report to get what they were looking for; our work caused their project to come to fruition. A recent case in point is the new Hermantown ice arena. We had many of these instances throughout the years.
We’ve had many student undergraduate research assistants at the BBER. Have any stood out to you?
All the students are wonderful. I’ve enjoyed working with them all. Each brings an eagerness to learn, and I’ve always been in awe of how they catch on so fast to the many different types of studies, analyses, and projects the BBER does to be able to work on them independently, with Monica’s oversight.
There was a group of students with whom we really had a fun time in 2019-2020 when we worked in the Duluth Technology Village downtown––Matthew Hockert, Nathan Brand, Megan Badger, and Tommy Olafson. They worked hard, but there was also a lot of laughter and fun.
What is one of your funniest or most memorable moments from your time at UMD?
One summer day, when we worked at Technology Village, I wore a skirt for work. At 8:00 a.m., I was walking on the sidewalk along Superior Street enjoying the beautiful day, when I tripped and fell. The contents of my bag spilled out—my lunch, papers, personal things and more. When I stood up, there was blood running down my legs from my scraped knees, and my hands were scraped up badly too. Amid the morning rush hour traffic, people ran over to help me. Talk about embarrassing!
A more pleasant memory was participating in the 2019 Great Duluth Race with Monica; former Internship Director Angie Soderberg; BBER student Tommy Olafson; and Hattie Ecklund, a BBER student who had just graduated. We saw so many parts of Duluth we didn’t know existed.