Letter from the editor

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Letter from the editor Kevin M. Lerner (bio) When I told the executive board of the Magazine Media Division that I planned to step down as editor of the Journal of Magazine Media at the end of 2021, there was a unanimous choice for a successor: Dr. Joy Jenkins of the University of Tennessee. When she applied, you could hear the sighs of relief from Oxford, England, to Anchorage, Alaska. The journal will be a better, stronger, more inclusive publication under her stewardship than it ever was in mine. That said, I am proud of what this journal has accomplished in the last six years. When I took over as editor in 2016, the Journal of Magazine and New Media Research—as it was then called—was a scrappy, self-published journal hosted on the website of the University of Arizona and maintained by my predecessor, Dr. Carol Schwalbe (who has remained a mentor to me and to Joy). Over the course of five years, the journal has changed its name, signed a contract with the University of Nebraska Press, begun the publication of printed issues, ported all its back issues into the ProjectMUSE database (where they are available under an open-access agreement), has been indexed by SCOPUS (under the leadership of our reviews editor, Miglena Sternadori), and has even begun earning a very small profit for the division. I have been honored to work with Miglena, with Joy, and with our current associate editors Leander Reeves and Alexandra Shakespeare. It has also been a pleasure to work with several talented editorial assistants as well. Caroline Chan set up our manuscript tracking process, and she was succeeded by Analisa Caso and Kristen Conti—all undergraduate students at Marist College. I want to particularly thank the former dean of the Marist College School of Communication and the Arts, Dr. Carolyn Lepre, for her support of the journal in my time as editor. Lyn, who is currently serving as interim president at Radford University, is a longtime Magazine Media Division member and a mentor for me in the division. Joy has spoken at some length about her vision for the journal, and as much as I have loved editing the journal, I will be even more excited to see where she takes it in her time at the helm. [End Page vii] For this final issue as editor, I am particularly proud to present a feature called The Magazine That Made Me. The section comes from an idea from Dr. Susan Keith, who is currently the president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, which sponsors this journal (and a member of my dissertation committee, years ago). More than a dozen scholars, from graduate students to emeriti, have contributed their memories of magazines (including one that never quite existed) that helped shape who they are. We also present five original works of research, which get to some of the core ideas of what makes a magazine a magazine—including a history of Edward Cave, the editor who coined the term “magazine” to describe a periodical. As the editor of a journal about magazines, it has always been important to me that the journal not just present important scholarship but also be readable. I hope you will agree that this issue is an incredibly readable one. Over to you, Joy! [End Page viii] Kevin M. Lerner kevin m. lerner, Marist College, kevin.lerner@marist.edu Copyright © 2022 Magazine Media Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication