The Vanderbilt Student Communications Inc. board elected division heads Tuesday afternoon for several student media organizations as well as board members-at-large.

Junior Robyn Hyden will be Orbis editor-in-chief, The Slant editor-in-chief will be sophomore Brendan Alviani, junior Ellie Durham will be editor-in-chief of The Vanderbilt Review, sophomore Kristina Lyons will be Vanderbilt Television general manager and sophomore Katherine Miller will be editor in chief of The Vanderbilt Torch. Freshman Courtney Rogers and sophomore Sydney Wilmer will serve 2-year terms as board members-at-large, junior Douglas Kurdziel, who serves on the board, will finish the term vacated by Miller’s election, and freshman Claire Costantino will serve as proxy for the school year.

Additionally, Chair of the Board Bruce Barry will serve as chair for an additional year since political science professor Stefanie Lindquist, who would have assumed the role in her third year on the board, will leave Vanderbilt for the University of Texas at the end of the semester. Political science professor Vanessa Beasley was elected as the third faculty member of the board, which governs VSC. The voting members of the board are comprised of five students and three faculty members.

A common theme throughout the visions of all new division heads was online convergence.

“I want to increase our cooperation with other student media groups … and put our content online,” Lyons said. “Right now VTV is only seen on TV, and not everyone watches TV. I want to put every episode online and increase our presence on campus.”

Miller, who is opinion editor of The Vanderbilt Hustler, also acknowledged the larger audience the Web provides, saying “expanding our online outreach” was key in her initiatives for The Torch next year.

Publicity and reaching the campus community also played a role in the division heads’ plans.

“I’m excited to be in a position to increase (The Review’s) presence on campus,” Durham said.

Alviani said he realized the importance of making The Slant appealing to the student body.

“My goal is to make The Slant an organization worth anyone’s time and a fun place to be,” Alviani said.

And everyone encouraged students to take part in their organizations.

“I would encourage anyone to get involved in student media,” Hyden said.

The board members-at-large also expressed their interest in working to recruit and keep VSC divisions moving forward as journalism changes.

“I want to get freshmen more involved and work with The Commons,” Rogers, who is the culture editor for Versus Magazine, said. “I want to help increase the overall readership for all divisions.”

Wilmer, a Hustler senior reporter who has been involved in multimedia projects, said she was encouraged by the direction in which she has seen VSC move.

“I think VSC has made incredible strides in the time I’ve been a part of it,” Wilmer said. “I’d like to see more integration of multimedia … in (other divisions).”

Elections for division head of The Vanderbilt Hustler, Versus Magazine and WRVU will be held next Tuesday.

—Sara Gast can be reached at sara.m.gast@vanderbilt.edu