Meet the editors: News

Pamela Smith | Visual Editor

Pictured left to right, Millicent Watt, Natalie Frank and Martha Layne are the news editors for the 2021-22 academic year.

By Natalie Frank, Martha Layne, and Millicent Watt

Meet the three reasons why the news desk won the best and sexiest desk award last year. From staying up all night to cover the tumultuous SGB elections to calling up all your favorite Pitt admins to get answers to your questions, there’s no shortage of drive in this group of writers!

At the news desk, our team of three editors and a plethora of talented reporters are always looking to find and share stories that are compelling, important and interesting to our Pitt readers. We break news, cover events, profile awesome people and print strongly reported features, all thanks to our dedicated staff who go above and beyond to get the scoop on everything Pitt-related. Is there something happening at the University you think we should know about? Are we missing something important in a story? Is the water off in Towers again? Our inbox is always open for tips and feedback at [email protected].

Natalie Frank, News Editor

I’m Natalie, the news editor and a junior majoring in anthropology and urban studies, minoring in political science and getting a certificate in public and professional writing. I joined The Pitt News during the fall of my first year and have loved writing here ever since. I love journalism because I get to talk to and create relationships with wonderful people in the Pitt community, and share their amazing stories. In my first year as an editor, I’m excited to continue working with our staff of great writers as we all learn together and become stronger reporters and writers!

Martha Layne, Assistant News Editor

I’m Martha, one of the assistant news editors, back for my second year of editing! I am a senior finance and accounting major, minoring in economics and English literature. I joined TPN as a staff writer the summer after my first year, and have stuck around ever since! I loved writing profile pieces and getting to highlight different members of the Pitt community, and my favorite part about editing is getting to support writers as they become stronger writers and journalists!

Millicent Watt, Assistant News Editor

I’m Millie, the second assistant news editor, and a junior double majoring in nonfiction writing and natural sciences, with a certificate in public communications of science and technology. I joined The Pitt News news desk last fall, where I covered a range of topics from Pitt’s peregrine falcons to Pitt’s Student Government Board. Journalism allows me to talk to a variety of people about their passions and interests, letting me learn about myself and explore my own range of curiosities.