Two young University students will lead The Minnesota Daily next year, as the paper enters its second century of campus coverage.
Twenty-year-old Julia Grant will be the youngest editor in chief in the Daily’s history. Sam Rosen, a 21-year-old marketing and human resources senior, will be the paper’s business manager next year.
“Julia is a fantastic people person,” said Aaron Kirscht, current editor in chief. “She made me a better editor in chief just for being in the newsroom.”
The Daily’s top spot guides the paper and represents the organization to the rest of the community, Kirscht said.
Grant, an organizational communications senior, has worked at the Daily for two years. Her first job was to lead the staff in charge of laying out the paper, as production crew chief. She then became a copy editor, and after that the paper’s news editor before heading up the Daily’s A&E section this year.
While working through changes to the Daily’s format and the adoption of a new newsroom computer system, Grant’s next job will be to lead the paper through its growing pains.
“The 100th anniversary has prompted significant changes this year,” Grant said. “My focus will be to follow through on those changes and bring some stability to the paper.”
Her goal is to fine-tune these changes, she said, including the adoption of the office of the publisher, an executive triumvirate comprised of the editor in chief, the business manager and the president of the Board of Directors.
The office of the publisher is designed to smooth internal operations and increase communication among the Daily’s various divisions. It also has the ability to make decisions quickly.
“I’m excited to be a part of a leadership structure they haven’t tried before,” Grant said.
To continue to fund the evolution of the Daily’s newsroom, Sam Rosen said the business side will have to find new revenue sources and increase the paper’s financial capacity.
“Our new focus has been to grow revenue. Sam has been a key player in that,” said Marty Brown, current business manager. “Everything he has done will benefit the Daily in the long run.”
As business manager, Rosen will be responsible for creating vision and direction for the Daily’s business side. And in keeping up with the Daily’s transformations, Rosen said he would like to improve employee attitudes internally and the paper’s image externally.
One of Rosen’s goals is to make sure students want to work at the Daily, and that they get a lot out of their experiences with the paper, he said. Partnered with that, he would like to increase the paper’s community involvement.
“The Daily can play a large role on campus,” Rosen said. “I want to see it as a bigger force on campus, both business and editorial sides.”
Grant and Rosen will take their new posts June 12.

Fabiana Torreao covers St. Paul campus and welcomes comments at [email protected].