The Beacon has been a part of Northwestern since 1928. Over time, it has changed in many ways, from adopting new logos to going online. On the horizon are several more changes, and most of them have less to do with the Beacon itself and more to do with NW’s English department.
NW’s English department is in the process of recovering from a substantial lull. English Teaching has been the only consistent major in the department, with majors like English Writing being rare, non-existent or, in the case of the Journalism major/minor, within the purview of another department.
With the addition of the Writing and Digital Media major and, of course, the hiring of Dr. Sarah Tharp and Dr. Kali Jo Wacker, the English department is on the rise and journalism is back within that sphere.
What does this have to do with the Beacon? This means that the Beacon will be more focused on giving students within the growing English department more practice and hands-on experience with their major/minor.
Dr. Wacker said in an interview, “My task at Northwestern is to update things into relevancy so that you have more practice as you move into your careers.”
At the moment, the Beacon is run by student employees, each with different majors and aspirations.
The goal is to eventually have the Beacon be run by students with a focus on journalism. The position of editor will be more like an internship than an on-campus job.
As for changes that will have a greater effect on the readers, more changes are likely to be made to the online aspect of the Beacon.
Currently, the Beacon website is simply an online archive of articles that appear in print. The goal for the future is to make the online version of Beacon its own entity.
The website will be updated heavily, some staff will work exclusively with the online version and shorter, exclusive articles focused on more niche topics will be written for it. There is even the possibility of an app for this new, online Beacon.
In addition to the Beacon’s future renovations, a new literary arts magazine will be coming to NW.
The writing contest run by Dr. Wacker and Dr. Tharp is the first step to making this magazine a reality. High finishers in the contest will be published in the first edition of the magazine, and the winner will be awarded $200.
However, the literary arts magazine will not just feature prose and poetry. Visual arts like photography and painting will also be featured.
The magazine will be focused on design. Staff will require artists as well as editors so that the magazine will look appealing and provide written works with visualizations to go with them.
The hardcover version will be released in the spring, and the online version, focused more on smaller works with the possibility of podcasts and the like, will be more consistent.
These changes and additions will add more flavor and opportunities to campus.
