Iowa State faculty with questions about writing for The Conversation or who want to brainstorm an idea for a future article now can sign up for "office hours" with environment and energy editor Jennifer Weeks.
Starting Oct. 9, Weeks will hold office hours from 1 to 2 p.m. every Friday. Faculty can access this Google calendar to check availability and schedule a 20-minute appointment. While Weeks generally works with scholars on stories about the environment and energy issues, her office hours are open to all faculty. The goal is to help scholars identify potential stories within their area of research and connect them with the appropriate editor.
What is it?
Through essays written by academics, The Conversation strives to provide insight on a range of timely topics.
The Conversation is providing this service to some of its partner institutions as part of a pilot project to build relationships with faculty and scholars to facilitate more articles. Iowa State joined The Conversation in mid-2018. Over that time, The Conversation has published more than 50 articles from more than 40 ISU faculty, resulting in 1.5 million reads around the globe.
Articles published on The Conversation's website are distributed through the Associated Press for media outlets to republish. The Conversation also provides its content to Yahoo News, MSN and Apple News. Any news outlet using the content must publish the original article or contact the author for approval to edit.
Its 2020 Author Impact Report highlights some of the benefits scholars reported from writing for The Conversation:
- 41% of authors received a request for a radio interview, 37% for a print interview
- 39% said their article resulted in other academic collaboration opportunities
- 27% saw an increase in citations of their scholarly articles
- 17% used articles or metrics in grants or funding proposals
