An op-ed option: from ghost writer to byline

NOTE: Lance Feyh, my former colleague at Missouri S&T whom I write about below, died peacefully in his sleep on July 12, 2018. Soon after I heard the news, I thought about the approach he took to the op-ed I discuss below. I’ve added the text of the op-ed in its entirety at the bottom of this note and removed the now-broken links to the newspaper’s website. – Andrew Careaga, July 14, 2018

The people who write many of the opinion pieces we read in the newspapers are much like speech writers. They’re the behind-the-scenes ghost writers who work with the college president, the corporate CEO or some other “influential” in the organization whose byline would be more recognizable — and therefore more trusted — than that of the ghost writer.

But sometimes the organization is better served when the ghost writers step out of the shadows and write in their own voice and under their own bylines.

That was the case for us at UMR recently. In Februaries past, as National Engineers Week approached, we pitched op-ed pieces extolling the importance of engineering to our national economy. These pieces were written (mostly) by deans and chancellors, with some editorial assistance from the public relations office. Given our niche as a university focused on engineering and technological education, we figured we had a good chance of placement.

Every year, the opinion page editors took a pass.

This year, we tried something different. One of our PR staff writers, Lance Feyh, wrote his own op-ed and pitched it. It appeared in Missouri’s largest newspaper, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on Monday, the first day of National Engineers Week.

“This is National Engineers Week,” Lance’s op-ed begins, “and it has absolutely nothing to do with setting up your toy trains. We’re talking about a different kind and a wider variety of engineers than the ones who command trains; we’re talking about electrical engineers, chemical engineers, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, aerospace engineers . . . the list goes on.”

And so does Lance — for a few hundred more words. The piece meets all the op-ed criteria; it is timely, tight and on topic. A killer photo and clever headline help to draw the eye to the story. But the piece includes other, less tangible elements that make it work.
Why did this piece make it into the op-ed pages when past efforts failed? I can think of a couple of reasons:

1. It was written by a real person. And in an authentic voice. Lance Feyh is not one of the upper-level administrators. He’s one of us. Just as Newsweek‘s “My Turn” column turns the spotlight on real people who can write and have a story to tell, so other media in this conversational era of blogging, YouTubing, citizen journalism and one-to-many-to-one social networking, traditional media are clamoring to show that they, too, share “authentic” voices.
2. It was transparent. In the second paragraph, Lance made it clear that he had an agenda: “They [engineers] are the kinds of people who teach here at the University of Missouri at Rolla — my employer — and my job is to generate publicity about these highly skilled tinkerers.” No hidden agenda here.
3. It contained humor. Just the right amount of it. Take paragraph three (please): “Engineers usually don’t get a lot of media attention. For that matter, a lot of them don’t get nearly enough sunlight, either. But, increasingly, many of them are starting to peek out of their shells enough to show people that their work not only is meaningful and interesting,” A lot of op-ed pieces take a somber tone. This is changing, thankfully. But sometimes writers try to be too funny, and it just backfires.

The piece goes on to touch on the need for more women in engineering, more engineers on a national scale, and the benefits of an engineering degree, including the average starting salary of $51,000 for a UMR grad. In short, it touched on many of the same themes we use in our student recruitment marketing. So it was consistent with the overall UMR recruitment message.

Now, this approach to op-ed placement probably won’t work every time. Some of the best op-ed pieces are written by experts who can speak with authority on certain issues. But once in a while, it’s OK for the PR folks to step out of their traditional behind-the-scenes roles and into the spotlight. They’re usually the best writers and communicators we have on our campuses, so why not?

Lance’s op-ed in full:

MONDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2007 | ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH | B9

Engineers: Wild and crazy guys

By Lance Feyh

This is National Engineers Week, and it has absolutely nothing to do with setting up your toy trains. We’re talking about a different kind and a wider variety of engineers than the ones who command trains; we’re talking about electrical engineers, chemical engineers, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, aerospace engineers . . . the list goes on.

They are the kinds of people who teach here at the University of Missouri at Rolla — my employer — and my job is to generate publicity about these highly skilled tinkerers. Engineers usually don’t get a lot of media attention. For that matter, a lot of them don’t get nearly enough sunlight, either. But, increasingly, many of them are starting to peek out of their shells enough to show people that their work not only is meaningful and interesting, but also fun:

• Take, for instance, UMR’s Jason Baird. An engineer, small business owner and bomb expert, Baird likes to demonstrate the power of explosives by blowing up frozen chickens. Baird also works with Paul Worsey, another UMR pyrotechnics specialist, in running summer explosives camps for high school students.
• Take, for instance, David Summers. In his spare time, Summers — an engineering professor and expert in water-jet technology — has concocted a scientific process for extracting crude oil from algae cultivated in the university’s underground mine. We already know that algae can produce oil, but Summers’ approach would speed up the process by about a million years.
• Take, for instance, Chang-Soo Kim, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. Kim is developing a smart sensor that can provide continuous monitoring of blood sugar for people living with diabetes.

You may have noticed that none of the engineers mentioned above is a woman, but we see an encouraging trend on that front. Today, a greater percentage of the women who enter UMR graduate than the percentage of men who do. And we’re seeing a much stronger push — including special summer camps oriented for girls and even outreach efforts in elementary schools — to get more girls and young women interested in careers in science and engineering.

There’s a shortage of most kinds of engineers in the United States, which means that UMR graduates are in demand. Many students receive multiple job offers even before they graduate. The career fairs that are held twice each year on campus attract hundreds of employers, including Anheuser- Busch, Boeing, Sprint and NASA. Last year, the average starting salary for those with UMR bachelor’s degrees was more than $51,000. The highest starting salaries went to our petroleum engineering grads: more than $75,000, not including benefits or bonuses.

That’s at least one indication of how crucial engineers are to the economy — yet we still can’t attract and train enough of them.

Why is that? Maybe it’s partly because engineers don’t think of themselves as all that interesting, even when they are. Maybe it’s partly because math teachers have a hard time conveying the excitement of learning how to solve problems. And maybe, even here in America, we don’t value curiosity highly enough, preferring regurgitation in classrooms over imagination.

This much I know: The work of professional engineers involves some fascinating people doing a wide variety of fascinating things — even if few of them will ever get to drive a train.

Lance Feyh specializes in communications for the administration of the University of Missouri at Rolla.