I’ve interviewed Dianne Lynch, the new Stephens College president, twice. The first time I walked into her office, I was nervous (she used to be a journalist…she’d know if I was doing a bad job with the interview) — and I had about 20 questions running around in my head I needed answered.
When she invited me into her conference room, I introduced myself, sat in a puffy chair, told her I wanted to follow her around for the day and then immediately began firing answers back to all her questions.
Lynch, a former journalist and journalism educator (in 1999 she was national Journalism Teacher of the Year, according to a Stephens College news release), was bubbling with enthusiasm to have a j-school student in her office. She began teaching right away.
What classes are you taking?
Where’d you grow up?
So you want to be a journalist…
What are you covering?
How long will you be reporting?
By the time she knew my life story, I’d asked at most, one or two questions. For the first 30 minutes of our interview, she was the reporter, I the subject.
In half an hour, Dr. Lynch gave me advice on reporting for the summer, career advice and one lifelong lesson: Never run out of breath, or the journalist-turned-college-president might outgun you with questions.
On Tuesday, I walked into her office again. This time I was ready. 30 minutes in, just like my last interview, I didn’t have any answers about new media, the subject I’d come to discuss. But it didn’t matter — because sometimes questions are answers.
Who is Dianne Lynch?
She’s an inquisitive journalist and teacher. I have a feeling, no matter her job title, this won’t change.
