Laura is the editor of the award-winning University of Chicago Magazine (as well as a UChicago alumna), a role she has held for the past nine years. She and her team highlight UChicago’s faculty, research, and scholarship for the Magazine, which is published by Alumni Relations and Development and reaches 170,000 alumni and friends four times a year.

Q: What do you enjoy most about being the editor of the University of Chicago Magazine?

First, the bottomless well of fascinating UChicago stories, and how much I personally learn from telling them in the Magazine. Also, I love interacting with our readers. Sometimes that’s as simple as changing a mailing address for someone, but it can go deeper. Chicago Booth alumnus Stan Kimer, MBA’79, wrote us a nice note after completing our reader survey this past spring. He mentioned his personal blog, and when managing editor Rhonda Smith looked it up, she found out that Mr. Kimer had taken up figure skating at age 59! We wanted to know more, and now we’re working with him on an alumni essay about the experience for our Summer/21 issue. Look for it in August.

Q: Why is the work you do with University of Chicago Magazine so important?

It’s something the University gives to alumni and other readers without asking for anything in return, which I find both important and lovely. In that way, it contributes to an ongoing relationship, and I think it’s one of the best ways of keeping alumni, College parents, and friends connected to one another and interested in the work of their fellow UChicagoans, on campus and around the world.

Q: Why do you enjoy telling stories?

I think joy in hearing a story is something that unites every one of us … Working on the University of Chicago Magazine extends that pleasure by letting us pass this community’s stories along to 170,000 readers. There’s nothing better than being out in the world, hearing a good story, finding a UChicago connection, and knowing I can spread the word. (Know a good one? Write to me at lademans@uchicago.edu).

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your UChicago experience?

I’ve been at the University for 28 years. Many of those were as a graduate student in the English department, and some were in other capacities in Alumni Relations & Development communications. Editing the Magazine these past nine years and learning something new every day is frankly a mind-blowing privilege and stroke of luck for someone who has always loved this place, and who never truly wanted to leave the classroom.