Sandelle (Ella) Morgan has been selected as Editor in Chief for Ethos for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Morgan will take over from current Editor in Chief Morgan Krakow in June. Until then, she will go through a rigorous training process with Krakow, other Ethos staff and Emerald Media Group newsroom adviser Jim Sloan.
Morgan is from Toronto, Canada. A junior majoring in journalism and minoring in economics, she transferred to the University of Oregon from Sacramento City College in Fall 2017. At SCC, she worked as a writer and photographer for the school’s publications Express Newspaper and Mainline Magazine.
Though she has not previously worked for Ethos before taking the Editor in Chief position, Morgan believes she can bring a fresh perspective to the publication.
“As someone who identifies as a woman of color, I want to set an example for not only young women who aspire to be writers and editors, but young women of color as well,” she said.
Emerald Media Group Board Chair Ben Schorzman said that the board was impressed with Morgan’s poise, intelligence and firm handle on what Ethos embodies.
“She’s coming from outside of Ethos, so no one had really known her,” Schorzman said. “She spent time presenting herself and letting us get to know her and her ambitions, then transitioned to how she could, from the outside, bring a new perspective to Ethos.”
During her presentation, Morgan spoke about her idea for a story about societal reactions to black people practicing veganism. Schorzman said he had never considered such a topic before.
“The stories she puts out as EIC will be like that,” he said. “Just different and engaging things.”
Though she ran for the position unopposed, Schrozman said the board believes Morgan will have the staff support and work ethic to be a successful Editor in Chief.
“It changed the discussion from comparing one person against another, to really identifying her strengths and weaknesses and trying to implement things in her onboarding to address any weakness.”
Morgan is looking forward to her new position, and has big ambitions for her tenure: she plans to start an Ethos podcast and newsletter.
“This has been a dream of mine for some time now, being Editor in Chief, so being able to have this opportunity now and start it off right is why I’m excited,” she said.