Todd Powell work experience
Paleo lab worker, Triebold Paleontology of Woodland Park, CO, summer 2010 to present. Mold and cast dinosaur fossils. Build and paint fossil replicas for display in museums and other venues. Other duties as necessary, including winter snow removal and helping troubleshoot problems with various associated websites.
Self-employed e-commerce site owner, model-kit producer, freelance writer, February 2009 to present. I sell hobby merchandise through direct sales, eBay and other websites. Freelance writing was mostly as a correspondent for the Flume, a Park County newspaper.
Web editor, GJSentinel.com/The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, CO, spring 2007 to January 2009. One of two top editors in The Daily Sentinel’s newsroom, answering to the editor and publisher. I was the first person to hold this position, given wide latitude and authority to shape it, working closely with GJSentinel.com’s content coordinator. The overarching goal was to help create a more Internet-oriented culture at the Sentinel and to improve the organization’s fast-growing website. Newsroom staffers answered directly to the managing editor and indirectly to me. Regular responsibilities included but were not limited to:
- Train staff members on a wide range of Web-oriented tasks, including using blog platforms, putting stories online, shooting, editing and Web posting video, podcasting, assembling slide shows, creating polls and using other administrative tools. I was also frequently called upon to do all these tasks myself.
- Help to create new website tools.
- Serve as a constant advocate for GJSentinel.com, which often meant encouraging longtime professional print journalists to see the value of online content, rather than focusing solely on the newspaper.
- Gather the “seed” material to begin populating GJSentinel.com’s community wiki, the site’s own “Wikipedia.”
- Some Web coding, mostly involving xhtml.
- Regular use of various kinds of computer software and hardware.
- Purchase Web-oriented equipment for newsroom use.
- Help to seek free or cheap solutions to technical challenges.
- Coordinate and assemble ambitious Web-oriented story and multimedia projects.
- Moderate GJSentinel.com comments and user forums.
- Address questions from the public.
- Compile monthly wrap-up reports, gathering information from a variety of sources.
Features editor, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, CO, summer 2003 to spring 2007. One of five desk editors at the Sentinel, answering to the managing editor and editor/publisher. My areas of responsibility covered a wide range of ages and interests, including health, entertainment, gardening, food and much more. I oversaw a staff of two reporters and also wrote materials for publication myself. The Sentinel is a morning daily publication with a circulation of about 30,000.
Regular weekly responsibilities included but were not limited to:
- Select, assign and edit stories and photos for various daily feature pages, including Health & Family, Home & Garden, Travel, Food and a Sunday feature centerpiece.
- Select, assign and edit stories and photos for the weekly entertainment guide.
- Write a family-oriented column weekly, except the third week of the month.
- Write a weekly “Take the Kids” column aimed at parents of young children.
- Coordinate feature columns and stories with writers both inside and outside of the newspaper.
- Write a hobbyist blog for the newspaper’s website, GJSentinel.com, as well as participate as a blogger for the Sentinel’s entertainment blog.
- Help to oversee and post regular news updates to the website, which could include shooting photos or writing stories.
- Schedule reporters for both the features and city desks.
- Regularly deal with the public.
Regular annual responsibilities included but were not limited to:
- Solicit music and head a selection process for a giveaway local-music compilation CD. I also helped assemble graphic materials for the disc art, did most of the direct dealings with the production company and helped organize large public release events.
- Select, assign and edit stories and photos for a large annual profile edition.
- Select, assign and edit stories and photos for a large annual travel supplement.
- Do employee reviews.
News editor, The Daily Sentinel, winter 1998 to summer 2003. I oversaw a staff of six copy editors who produced all of the Sentinel’s news pages, and also the sports pages for about two years. In addition to the duties shared by everyone on the news desk (described below), my responsibilities included scheduling, annual evaluations, coordinating special sections and various other managerial duties that came up from day to day.
Copy editor, The Daily Sentinel, spring 1995 to winter 1998. My duties included checking the flow and accuracy of all news copy, local and from wire services. I regularly worked in the paper’s slot, which involved laying out all news pages on a pagination system. Duties also included laying out and editing special sections, feature pages and the weekly entertainment guide; training new copy desk employees; doing cutouts or other effects on photos for feature layouts; and manipulating AP graphics or creating my own originals.
Copy editor, The Yuma Daily Sun of Yuma, AZ, October 1988 to April 1995. The responsibilities of this job were similar to those described as a copy editor at The Daily Sentinel. The Yuma Daily Sun had a seasonally fluctuating circulation of 20,000 to 30,000.
Copy editor and regional reporter, Rocky Mountain Collegian of Fort Collins, CO, August 1986 to May 1988. The Collegian was a student-run campus and community daily with a circulation of 14,000.
EDUCATION
- Bachelor of arts degree from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. Graduation: May 1988. Majored in English, minored in political science.
HONORS AND ACTIVITIES
- Colorado Press Association, first place in headline writing, Class 5, 1999.
- Best of Cox, Cox Newspapers competition, second place in page layout, community division, 1998.
- Colorado Press Association, second place in headline writing, Class 5, 1997.
- Published writer, with numerous short stories and an op-ed printed by small-press magazines.
- Occasional contributing writer to Amazing Figure Modeler magazine.