Editor-in-Chief Welcomes in the New School Year

As students return to campus and this year’s Synapse staff expands, I am struck by the diversity in our student population. Synapse staff this year is a true microcosm of UCSF, representing students from almost every school and department at UCSF. Looking around the room at our first staff meeting, I see faces of all different colors, shapes and sizes looking back at me, each with their own stories and each with stories to tell.

From profiling faculty and students in underrepresented groups, to more in depth coverage of student organizations and government, Synapse this year aims to highlight the wealth of diversity in our student body—both in the range of experiences people bring to this campus, and in the diverse types of organizations students create and run.

Over the summer, we rebooted our website and rebranded it to reflect the changing times and usher Synapse into the modern digital era. The change in our branding, Synapse: The UCSF Newspaper to Synapse: UCSF Student Voices, reflects the ideal we hope to embody this year.

UCSF students are not just only budding medical and research professionals, but also tri-athletes, musicians, poets, artists, social justice activists and podcasters. We come from every state in the US, and many different countries. We are queers, first-generation to college, veterans, parents, international students, and come from every imaginable racial and socioeconomic background. This year Synapse seeks to amplify and highlight the richness and depth of our student body by truly reflecting the varied voices of UCSF Students.

As we launch into the new school year as an all digital media production that reflects our Millennial generation of smart-phone users who tweet, snap-chat, and facebook, we hope to engage our readers through the media they consume. While I know that my labmates and colleagues will miss the crossword puzzles Synapse used to publish, we hope to increase our readership by producing more story driven content. Many of you will remember our popular Humans of UCSF series. Humans of UCSF, along with more in-depth profiles of diverse faculty and students, are in the works for the coming year. Additionally, we plan to revamp our Life of a UCSF Student column by learning more about the experiences of pharmacy, nursing, dentistry and medical students as they progress through their education.

Synapse staff new and old will be writing in the coming year. To highlight just a few of our 30+ person staff, long-time Synapse writer, Hanna Starobinets, will continue her column on new and interesting science, and Nhat Bui will continue the UCSF history column, previously written by Taylor LaFlam, as Throwback Thursday: This date in UCSF History. We’re also partnering with Between Degrees to publish art created by UCSF affiliates. We’ll also continue to highlight research at UCSF with a two person team of Max Coyle and Lauren Shields.

As incoming editor-in-chief, I’m excited about the prospect of hearing and broadcasting the breadth and depth of voices here on-campus. To stay informed and engaged, please follow our Facebook and Twitter pages to see our stories unfold, and watch for our new weekly newsletter—now delivered directly to your student inbox.

Warm Regards,
Bryne Ulmschneider
Synapse: Editor-in-Chief