The UIS 2019-2020 academic year is coming to an end and The Journal will not be publishing articles during summer recess.  The Journal has had a variety of stories published every week by our talented staff writers this year, including two issues of The Beyond our semesterly special issue made up of multiple stories that focus on a singular topic chosen by the staff. Our fall Beyond issue was Beyond: A Year from the Election and our spring issue theme was Beyond: Hindsight is 2020.  Both Beyond issues and other previous stories can be found on our website, www.uisobserver.com. 

Our staff would like to give a special thanks to everyone who was interviewed for stories and our Q&A section this school year. We would also like to thank everyone who reads our articles and subscribes to our weekly email updates. You can check out The Journal’s website to subscribe. The Journal is thankful to be supported by the UIS Communication Department to in order to make our weekly publications possible. 

Finally, thank you for your patience during our transition to a completely online publication as a result of COVID-19.  The Journal’s priority is to make sure our readers are safe, and – just as importantly – our staff. As of right now, it is undetermined if we will continue to only publish our articles online next fall rather than the usual print distribution. An announcement on the decision will be made at the start of the UIS 2020-2021 academic year.  For now, The Journal staff hopes that our readers are taking care of themselves and following proper safety guidelines. 

Please feel free to email any questions or feedback to [email protected]. We would love to hear any suggestions for improving The Journal. With all this being said, have a safe and healthy summer recess and we look forward to starting our publication back up in the fall.  

Take care, 

Hayley Payne, Editor-in-Chief