Still standing
When I interviewed for a position in UD’s public relations office 23 years ago, I finished our conversation with a pledge: “I promise not to bring down the University of Dayton.”
You see, I had a bad track record. After graduating from UD, I had worked one job, and then another, both for organizations that soon fell on hard times. It was nearly three years from my hire date that I was let go from the first job — and then, three years after my next start date, the other. Both organizations — a city newsweekly and a traditional arts organization — no longer exist.
Was it me? It’s plausible; I had worked there, and then they vanished.
Not to say I was holding my breath, but when my three-year UD anniversary came around, I marked the day. Yep, St. Mary’s Hall was still standing. I kept my promise.
Maybe it's not me after all.
I started as a senior editor Aug. 19, 2002, the Monday after a long weekend thanks to the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Many years later, I gained new appreciation for that feast day, held every Aug. 15, while doing research for a story on UD’s hidden treasures. On Roesch Library’s fourth floor, I was shown two wooden boxes neatly stacked with wooden dominoes. Only their edges were visible, and on these, Brother George Sauer, Society of Mary Cincinnati Province inspector, had pasted strips of paper typed with the names of every Marianist.
In the early 1900s, around the Feast of the Assumption, Marianists would travel with their trunks to Cincinnati to await their new assignments. Sauer would shift the dominoes around, filling the needs of a growing number of schools. “Some of it was the domino effect, and some of it was so you kept a wider perspective of things,” said Father Paul Vieson, S.M. ’62, then director of the Marianist Archives.
Moving jobs so abruptly early in my career led me to always have a backup plan. While I didn’t have my trunk packed by the door, I did have the classifieds section open on the kitchen table.
Three years at UD came and went. And then four. And it keeps going. I moved to a different office. And then a new building. And then a third building. When I became editor of UD Magazine, I wrote about the things that interested me, like UD’s history, and also the stories I knew no one else wanted to write. Every issue, I tackled the easiest and the hardest, which has offered me a wider perspective on this job and our role for the greater University.
In 2021, we brought Nicole Craw onto the staff. I really like her. I imagine she sprinkles sarcasm on her Cheerios for breakfast, much like every good editor I’ve ever met.
During one staff meeting early in her tenure, as we digressed as usual into conversations of kids’ soccer, work anniversaries and favorite meals, she piped up, without a bit of sarcasm:
“You people actually love each other.”
Her statement was immediately added to our whiteboard of important quotations, alongside “We got Marys” and “That’s my second naked man this week.” (No, I don’t remember the context of that last statement.)
We do love each other. The Marianists have a way of attracting a special kind of person to UD, and we all grow thanks to their dedication, teaching and example, including a willingness to say yes when asked, whether or not our bags are packed. In the process, we grow closer to one another.
With this issue of the magazine, I hand to Nicole the reins of editor in chief and the green “stet” stamp. (“Stet” stands for “hands off,” asserting colorful authority above all other proofreaders and their red pens.) She now gets to decide which stories are the hardest and the easiest, and who should write them. You’ll still see my byline, but I’ll be devoting more of my days to assisting UD’s leadership communicate our mission, vision and direction in this challenging and important time for higher education.
Pray for her. Nicole now has to manage not just one but two former chief editors on her staff, as Tom Columbus — who this August, though he says he’s retired, celebrated 58 years at UD — continues to contribute to issues, staff meetings and the quote board (most recently, “Anything long should have a plot”).
Next year, I’ll celebrate my three year-times-eight work anniversary. I wholly expect UD to still be standing. And don’t expect me to leave anytime soon.
Michelle Tedford studied journalism at UD. She prefers her sarcasm over Rice Krispies with a glass of orange juice.
A version of this article appears in print in the Autumn 2025 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 66. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE