Harvard Magazine Editor Rosenberg to Retire, Ending 30-Year Tenure

Harvard Magazine Editor John S. Rosenberg will retire in April, ending his three-decade tenure at the head of the alumni magazine.

Rosenberg, the first non-alumn to serve as editor, oversaw the magazine’s digital transition, introducing online content in addition to its bimonthly print issues. He instituted the magazine’s first full-time staff art director — helping professionalize the design of its print edition — and worked to solicit regular contributions from Harvard faculty.

Rosenberg also increased Harvard Magazine’s coverage of art and performance, introducing the “Montage” section, which includes artist profiles and book reviews.

Jonathan S. Shaw ’89, who has served as Harvard Magazine’s managing editor since 1990, praised the changes he witnessed under Rosenberg, describing his editing as “incredibly skilled.”

“He’s particularly terrific at structural reorganization of texts that sometimes aren’t as felicitous as they should be when they first come in,” Shaw said.

Sewell Chan ’98, a member of the Harvard Magazine Board of Directors and the executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, is leading the search for Rosenberg’s successor.

Chan, a former Crimson News editor, wrote in an emailed statement that the search committee is looking for “a respected journalist” and “digital innovator” who will “develop new storytelling formats, build new audiences, and pursue new sources of revenue.”

As an undergraduate, Chan participated in Harvard Magazine’s Ledecky Fellowship, a yearlong program that allows undergraduates to write for the magazine. He praised Rosenberg’s mentorship during the program.

“John offered regular feedback,” Chan wrote. “He’s a writer’s editor, someone who tries to amplify the writer’s voice. His gentle style and his encouragement of everyone’s creativity made him a pleasure to work with.”

Rosenberg said he saw Harvard Magazine’s coverage as a way to draw attention back to the “core academic work” happening at the University.

“We’re giving people a sabbatical back from their lives to the University, but we’re also giving them a sort of free higher education,” he said.

Like many alumni magazines, Rosenberg said, Harvard Magazine began as an independent, alumni-funded organization. He said its continued independence, however, makes it unique — and allows it to cover the University more critically.

“We’re doing the best we can to inform and engage and entertain readers,” he said. “Our criterion is not, ‘Does it promote this?’ or ‘Does it help raise money for that?’ It’s whether readers want to know — and how do they want to know it.”

Chan wrote that Rosenberg had maintained a decades-long commitment to independence from the University, even through crises.

“The magazine’s editorial independence was on full display during two tumultuous periods associated with the resignations of two university presidents, Lawrence H. Summers in 2006 and Claudine Gay earlier this year,” Chan wrote.

Shaw, Harvard Magazine’s managing editor, said he is excited to see how the publication evolves under its next leader.

“It’ll be wonderful to have some fresh perspectives on the University and on the work that we do,” Shaw said. “And I think we’re all looking forward to seeing what that change will be.”