EDITORIAL PAGE CHANGES

Close readers of the editorial pages will have noticed that this newspaper’s masthead contains but one name, temporarily, as staff changes take place here. Earlier this week, Susan Young, the assistant editorial page editor for the last four years, was named editor of the pages.

Ms. Young replaces Todd Benoit, who served on the pages for nearly 18 years, the last 10 as editor. Mr. Benoit has become the BDN’s director of new media and will grapple with challenges facing this newspaper in the age of the Internet.

Ms. Young began at the BDN in 1994 after earning an undergraduate degree at Bowdoin College and a master’s in journalism from the University of Missouri. She also worked for Reuters news service. Beginning here as a general assignment reporter, she quickly was promoted to covering first the education and then environment beats, for which she won several awards. She was among the few in Maine to actually understand the state’s old school-funding formula, and her work analyzing the 2000 U.S. Census helped illuminate demographic changes for lawmakers at that time.

Specializing in editorials on the environment when she joined these pages in 2003, Ms. Young since has written about a wide range of issues and was awarded top honors for editorial writing in the New England Associated Press organization in her first year. She also has been honored by the Maine Press Association and recognized for her efforts in specific areas of advocacy, including her work to improve mental health care in Maine.

New leadership on the pages certainly will bring some changes but, as always, readers are invited to submit commentary, whether letters or longer opinion pieces, to offer their ideas on the editorials or on the news stories throughout the paper. We hope you continue to find all the positions presented on the pages interesting and thought provoking.