Through his work with Tufts' outreach programs, Pete Sanborn (LA'99) came to the realization that would shape his post-graduationplans: "Tufts students should have a stronger relationship withboth those who studied on the Hill before them, and those who willcontinue their education here after them."
It was during his senior year that Cindy Pollard, the formerDirector of Public Relations at Tufts, approached Sanborn and askedhim to assist in revamping the Tufts Alumni Association/PublicRelations department.
At that time in the late 1990s, the Internet industry wasbooming. Yet, when Sanborn started his work with the PublicRelations department after graduation, no electronic newsletters tomembers of the Tufts community existed.
With a basic working knowledge of Dreamweaver and Adobe Acrobat,that he had acquired from the Multimedia Design course taught bythe Drama and Dance department's Neal Hirsig, Sanborn set out tocreate what we know today as Tufts E News.
Six months later, his project was complete. His choice of titlesfor this endeavor proved noteworthy as well. As he ran potentialtitles, he found all to be already copyrighted. According toSanborn, he had thought to himself: "Why don't I just type in 'ENews' - maybe I can get some ideas by just typing that in."
No other potential titles appeared, and the name stuck,interestingly enough, the Boston Herald has since labeled itselectronic newsletter "E News" as well.
Sanborn, a Philadelphia native, spent his undergraduateexperience at Tufts actively reaching out to the community.Following his strong interest in journalism, he joined the staff ofThe Tufts Daily during his freshman year and was editor-in-chief ofthis paper during his senior year.
The summer before his senior year, Sanborn traveled to Hong Kongwith the Tufts Institute for Leadership and InternationalPerspective (TILIP) program. During this program, Sanborn internedwith Asiaweek, a subsidiary of TIME Magazine. This experience withAsiaweek and "the memory of staring out a window overlooking thenight skyline of Hong Kong from the 56th floor [office] of a100-story building" moved him tremendously.
Despite all the time he invested into the journalism field,Sanborn initially did not see himself pursuing a career injournalism. And although he acquired tremendous respect andappreciation for professors, Sanborn was not particularlyinterested in becoming an academic, either.
Law, on the other hand, has always appealed to him. Indeed,Sanborn is currently taking night classes at Suffolk Law School inBoston. "There's something to be said for the way lawyers think -their frame of reference," Sanborn said.
A wave of individuals has passed through the Public Relationsdepartment since Sanborn's hiring in '99, and he's the only personwho has remained on the job. His job includes a variety offunctions, including writing and editing articles and profilepieces on E News, ensuring that the 50,000 people subscribed to ENews receive their editions, updating the aesthetics and content ofTufts Admissions websites, and overseeing the five to 15 internswho work in his department every semester. This group of internsaids him in compiling his electronic newsletter.
"There's something very unique about working at a university[because] there's energy on a college campus unlike anywhere else,"Sanborn said.
Through his combined undergraduate experience and his work withE News, Sanborn has developed an affinity for the interestingnature of the Tufts community. "No matter how far a Tufts membertravels the world, he or she can always find another Jumbo," hesaid.
This assertion proved true when Sanborn was in Hong Kong on theTILIP program and randomly encountered a friend from sophomoreyear, a native of Barbados, house-sitting for a neighboringapartment.
When comparing his choice of career paths to those of hisgraduating peers, Sanborn is positive. Some of his friends now workas traveling salesmen.
"Every day, it's easy for me to do this job, as opposed topushing light bulbs, [because] this is the stuff that matters,"Sanborn said. "Find something you love, everything else comes intoplace. But more importantly, push yourself and go into theabyss."
