Ryan Frank

Sports reporter, 1996-97 Sports editor, 1997-98 Editor in chief, 1998-99 Publisher/CEO, 2011-2014

What year did you get your degree?

1999

Current job

Internal Communications Manager, Legacy Health, Portland

Tell us about your family

I married another college newspaper editor, Paige Parker, from the University of Montana. We have two kids, Parker and Ruby, who spent part of their childhood in Suite 300 when I served as publisher. One of Ruby’s first outings, after she was born in 2011, was the Emerald’s year-end party outside the EMU. They’re 13 and 10 now.

Tell us your favorite Daily Emerald or Ethos memory

My favorite memories are all about the experiences I was lucky to have with the students and professionals at the Emerald and on campus. A few that stick out: * Working with students to develop plans for the Emerald Revolution in 2012, celebrating their courage to embrace change and seeing how the journalism industry nationally cheered them on. * Seeing the creativity and hard work of students to create new business ventures, the Emerald Photo Booth and The Venture Dept., to fund our journalism and create new training opportunities * Everything about my time as a student journalist. The Emerald became my family room for four years. It’s where I made lifelong friends, where I learned new things, and yes, where I sometimes slept.

How did editorial independence impact your experience at the Emerald or Ethos?

Editorial independence was an essential element of the experience for me as a student and a professional. As a student, it gave us freedom from the administration, the journalism school, and the business side to pursue the stories that we cared about and that we thought our readers cared about. It allowed us to expose wrong-doing in the wrestling program, to show how declining state funding put more financial burden on students, and to document how donors’ influence was growing across campus. As a professional, editorial independence set the boundaries and expectations for the working relationship between the student and professional staff. It provided a tradition and standard that student journalists had to live up to in the quality of their reporting and storytelling. It also gave me the opportunity to provide guidance and support when students asked.

Any comments, words of wisdom or advice to future grads:

Work hard, have fun, make friends and memories. Always remember, you have hundreds of friends in the professional world in us alumni. Use our network to make connections and open the doors for professional opportunities.

I would love to reconnect with Emerald alumni and current staff. Feel free to contact me at [email protected]