Ramkumar elected sports editor of V. 112

Junior Amrith Ramkumar, editor-in-chief of The Chronicle, was elected sports editor of the student newspaper’s 112th volume at a department-wide meeting.

Ramkumar will begin his one-year term April 27 and replace senior Ryan Hoerger. The Norman, Okla., native will lead a staff of approximately 30 writers, editors and departmental staff.

“I cannot wait to apply many of the lessons I learned this year as editor-in-chief during my time as sports editor,” Ramkumar said. “We have made great strides with our new website this year and I look forward to pushing for more digital innovation in the coming year.”

Before being elected editor-in-chief in February 2015, Ramkumar served as a men’s basketball beat writer and the sports blog editor. He previously was a beat writer for women’s basketball, in addition to covering several other sports since joining the department at the start of his freshman year.

“Amrith has been incredibly devoted to The Chronicle ever since he stepped on campus as a freshman,” Hoerger said. “He has really grown into the role of editor-in-chief and done a great job leading the organization as a whole, and I admire his dedication to now return to the sports department as a rising senior to continue developing new sportswriters and telling important stories.”

In his platform, Ramkumar emphasized building on the successes of this year by restructuring the department slightly to prepare underclassmen to take on leadership positions the future. A more decentralized structure will allow the department to build on this year’s momentum and expand production of feature stories and videos, he explained.

“A major goal in the department and throughout the organization is to make our processes sustainable with a new digital model, which requires buy-in from a dedicated staff,” Ramkumar said.

A political science major also pursuing a minor in statistics and the policy journalism and media studies certificate, Ramkumar plans to graduate in May 2017 before potentially beginning a career in journalism.

“Amrith’s breadth of experience as editor will allow him to take the sports department to new heights,” co-news editor Ryan Zhang, a senior, said. 

Ramkumar noted that his experiences covering Duke’s 2013-14 women’s golf national championship and the women’s basketball team his freshman year made him want to take leadership positions in the department in the future. He said in his speech that he hoped to give underclassmen in the department similar opportunities moving forward. 

“With several Duke players and coaches setting their sights on this summer’s Olympics and the University preparing to add softball as its 27th varsity sport in 2017-18, the upcoming year will be another special one for one of the top athletic programs in the country,” Ramkumar said.