A button-down oxford with the sleeves rolled just beneath the elbow, dress slacks, running shoes, and a backpack tossed jauntily over the shoulder was his everyday work uniform.
Nothing too remarkable for a new professor, but there was an air of on-the-go youthfulness that bespoke his attitude toward his career.
Professional, but ready to dig in for the long haul when necessary.
Dr. Dan Reimold was the faculty adviser to the Minaret at the University of Tampa from fall 2010 to spring 2013. I was lucky to be under his tutelage for his first year on campus. I wrote restaurant reviews and copyedited the articles on Tuesday nights when we were all assembling our publication before deadline. He attended the staff meetings, typically doing more listening than talking, offering tidbits of advice and direction here and there.
Whenever he had something to say, it was a suggestion given gently and usually with a smile. He always stayed on into the evening with us, ensuring the layout and editorial for the week were good to go before calling it a night, often until midnight or 1:00 a.m. Many were the jokes he and I personally shared, getting slap-happy as the night wore on. He made the tedious work of editing better, just with his presence and laugh.
These are the lasting impressions I have of the professor who passed on all too soon. I was shocked and dismayed to hear of his death on Aug. 21. He was 34 years old.
He had many accolades to speak of, even with a life cut so short. He was a Fulbright scholar, and his first teaching job was at a school in Singapore. Dr. Reimold loved to travel, and his seminars took him all over the U.S., Iraq, Senegal and Malaysia. In addition to his first scholarly work on sex columns in student-run press, he also published a textbook for journalism students in the spring of 2013. Its chief design and focus is to aid students in coming up with creative and fresh story ideas, and has been hailed as an essential tool for 21st-century J-school attendees.
He contributed to USA Today, the Tampa Bay Times and the Poynter Institute, to name a few. I would venture, however, that his most vibrant and well-known publication was the blog he maintained for the Associated Collegiate Press, “College Media Matters.”
I asked him about it once, and yes, it was always meant as a double entendre.
He spotlighted, questioned and celebrated issues pertaining to collegiate-level media. In doing so, though, he emphasized an important outlet for a large group of people.
What college students wanted to write about, and making sure they had the opportunities and resources to do it, mattered.
It shaped careers and lives across the country, and it behooved the general population to pay attention. This was his stance. His colleagues, especially in light of his recent death, agree that no one in the field kept better tabs on this than Dan.
With wit and vigor, Dr. Reimold relentlessly researched and posted issues pertaining to student media outlets across the nation. He averaged one to two posts a week, four seasons a year. He created podcasts, discussion threads and held seminars from the platform of this blog, all in pursuit of aiding students to push for inventive ideas. Truly, the word passionate was defined by his dedication to the field.
I have yet to read an announcement from ACP stating whether or not the blog will be continued, and if so, by who. Rest assured, however, those will be some big sneakers to fill. A passion like Dr. Reimold’s is rarely found in this age of limitless distractions.
Because it would make him laugh to know this is the last and least important information in this article, I end with this:
His favorite candy, bar none, were Kit-Kats.
Visit Dr. Reimold’s blog at collegemediamatters.com
